gaüṛī mahalā 9.
prānī kaü hari jasu mani nahī āvai.
ahinisi maganu rahai māiā mai kahu kaise gun gāvai.1. rahāu.
pūt mīt māiā mamtā siu ih bidhi āpu bandhāvai.
mrig trisnā jiu jhūṭho ihu jag dekhi tāsi uṭhi dhāvai.1.
bhugati mukati kā kāranu suāmī mūṛ tāhi bisrāvai.
jan nānak koṭan mai koū bhajanu rām ko pāvai.2.3.
-Guru Granth Sahib 219
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib describes those so thoroughly entangled in fleeting relationships and the pursuit of materialism that they forget entirely IkOankar (the Divine), who is the provider of all things material and immaterial. Rare are those seekers who escape this cycle of materialism by reflecting on the virtues of IkOankar, and enshrining them in their minds.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
GAURI 3
In the third composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, Into the mind of the being, praise of the 1-Light does not come. Day and night, they remain immersed in Maya. Tell me, how can they sing praises? Here, the Guru has shifted the subject from ‘wise ones’ to ‘being,’ or more literally, the one who has life, or the one who is full of breath. The beings are not able to bring into their mind the praise or glory of the 1-Light, IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). Interestingly, the passive voice is used to convey that praise does not enter the mind — it could be that we are trying and trying and trying, and still, praise does not enter our minds. Why, despite our trying, does praise not enter our minds? It is because our minds are immersed in or attached to something else: Maya. Maya is attachment to the material and to our relationships, and it is the root of our forgetfulness. If we are immersed in the material or in our human relationships and nothing else, there is no room in the mind to sing praises or remember the 1-Light. We are too busy being intoxicated day and night, immersed in our attachment, drowning in it, delighted and enamored by it. So the Guru asks, if this is the state of the being, how can they sing praises? It is not possible to be immersed in both Maya and praise of the One.
Into the mind of the being, praise of the 1-Light does not come. The Guru gives examples, stating that we are attached to our children and our friends and to Maya as a whole. It is these various forms of attachment that bind themselves to us. The Guru calls the world mithya. Mithya often gets translated as false, which can be interpreted to mean temporary. It is not that the world is not real; it is just not absolutely Real. It is not that life on earth is false and, therefore, we ought not to take part in it. Instead, when we root ourselves only in the temporary, when we fool ourselves into clinging to things we think are “ours,” what we are doing is straying further and further away from IkOankar, the Eternal. And it is due to this distance from the Eternal and this binding ourselves with the temporary that the world becomes mithya. This is compared to the thirst of a deer, referencing the way a deer will search for water and see a mirage in the distance, believing it to be water. Just as the deer, seeing the mirage, gets up and runs toward it, so too do human beings, upon seeing the mithya world around them, get up and run toward its various attachments. We cannot understand that the world is not eternal or Real with a capital ‘R,’ so we bind ourselves up in the temporary, constantly running after Maya.
Into the mind of the being, praise of the 1-Light does not come. In this binding, the foolish ones forget IkOankar, the Owner, the one who gave us all of these material things to which we are attached. The cause of the material world around us and our relationships and our freedom is IkOankar, and yet, we are foolish and forgetful of that One who causes and gives. The Guru ends by saying that it is only a rare one, one among millions; actually, billions, who receive the ability to recite, remember and contemplate the virtues of the Beautiful One. Even the remembrance of the Beautiful is a gift, and none of this realization will come without it.
Praise does not enter us simply because we want it to. Praise cannot enter us if we are immersed in the praise of the temporary, engrossed in our attachment to the material world and material relationships. Remembrance does not enter us simply because we want it to. Remembrance cannot enter us if we are attached to the temporary, if we have constructed a world around us that is not rooted in the Eternal IkOankar. The remembrance of the Beautiful, the Owner, the All-Pervasive, the one who has created all of creation, is what allows us to recognize the Vastness of IkOankar, who has created attachment as well as freedom from attachment. Will we learn to detach ourselves from Maya so that praise can enter? Will we remove the binds of the material world and our relationships so that the great Giver can give remembrance?
In the third composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, Into the mind of the being, praise of the 1-Light does not come. Day and night, they remain immersed in Maya. Tell me, how can they sing praises? Here, the Guru has shifted the subject from ‘wise ones’ to ‘being,’ or more literally, the one who has life, or the one who is full of breath. The beings are not able to bring into their mind the praise or glory of the 1-Light, IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). Interestingly, the passive voice is used to convey that praise does not enter the mind — it could be that we are trying and trying and trying, and still, praise does not enter our minds. Why, despite our trying, does praise not enter our minds? It is because our minds are immersed in or attached to something else: Maya. Maya is attachment to the material and to our relationships, and it is the root of our forgetfulness. If we are immersed in the material or in our human relationships and nothing else, there is no room in the mind to sing praises or remember the 1-Light. We are too busy being intoxicated day and night, immersed in our attachment, drowning in it, delighted and enamored by it. So the Guru asks, if this is the state of the being, how can they sing praises? It is not possible to be immersed in both Maya and praise of the One.
Into the mind of the being, praise of the 1-Light does not come. The Guru gives examples, stating that we are attached to our children and our friends and to Maya as a whole. It is these various forms of attachment that bind themselves to us. The Guru calls the world mithya. Mithya often gets translated as false, which can be interpreted to mean temporary. It is not that the world is not real; it is just not absolutely Real. It is not that life on earth is false and, therefore, we ought not to take part in it. Instead, when we root ourselves only in the temporary, when we fool ourselves into clinging to things we think are “ours,” what we are doing is straying further and further away from IkOankar, the Eternal. And it is due to this distance from the Eternal and this binding ourselves with the temporary that the world becomes mithya. This is compared to the thirst of a deer, referencing the way a deer will search for water and see a mirage in the distance, believing it to be water. Just as the deer, seeing the mirage, gets up and runs toward it, so too do human beings, upon seeing the mithya world around them, get up and run toward its various attachments. We cannot understand that the world is not eternal or Real with a capital ‘R,’ so we bind ourselves up in the temporary, constantly running after Maya.
Into the mind of the being, praise of the 1-Light does not come. In this binding, the foolish ones forget IkOankar, the Owner, the one who gave us all of these material things to which we are attached. The cause of the material world around us and our relationships and our freedom is IkOankar, and yet, we are foolish and forgetful of that One who causes and gives. The Guru ends by saying that it is only a rare one, one among millions; actually, billions, who receive the ability to recite, remember and contemplate the virtues of the Beautiful One. Even the remembrance of the Beautiful is a gift, and none of this realization will come without it.
Praise does not enter us simply because we want it to. Praise cannot enter us if we are immersed in the praise of the temporary, engrossed in our attachment to the material world and material relationships. Remembrance does not enter us simply because we want it to. Remembrance cannot enter us if we are attached to the temporary, if we have constructed a world around us that is not rooted in the Eternal IkOankar. The remembrance of the Beautiful, the Owner, the All-Pervasive, the one who has created all of creation, is what allows us to recognize the Vastness of IkOankar, who has created attachment as well as freedom from attachment. Will we learn to detach ourselves from Maya so that praise can enter? Will we remove the binds of the material world and our relationships so that the great Giver can give remembrance?
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