gaüṛī mahalā 9.
sādho ihu manu gahio na jāī.
cancal trisnā saṅgi basatu hai yā te thiru na rahāī.1. rahāu.
kaṭhan karodh ghaṭ hī ke bhītari jih sudhi sabh bisrāī.
ratanu giānu sabh ko hiri līnā tā siu kachu na basāī.1.
jogī jatan karat sabhi hāre gunī rahe gun gāī.
jan nānak hari bhae daïālā taü sabh bidhi bani āī.2.4.
-Guru Granth Sahib 219
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib describes a mind dominated by an incessant craving for material wealth. In pursuit of these desires, the mind is unsteady and uncontrollable. Efforts to steady the mind only become fruitful through the grace of IkOankar (the Divine).
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Interpretive Transcreation
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GAURI 4
In the fourth composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, O wise ones! This mind cannot be caught. It dwells with fickle craving, and due to this, does not remain steady. Desire does not allow for the mind to be steady because desire itself is fickle and momentary — what we crave in one moment changes to something else so quickly. We know this! We know that our day-to-day desires are in constant motion, shifting and morphing even from minute to minute. And because the mind is dwelling with this fickle craving, it moves as our cravings do. It is uncatchable. It is frenzied and wavering and constantly running in ten different directions, towards the material, and towards our relationships. It is due to living in the fickleness of desire that the mind is unable to remain steady.
O wise ones! This mind cannot be caught. The Guru says there is fierce and callous anger within the body, and it is that hardness, that anger, that has caused us to forget all awareness of IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). The anger within the body is hard to break and hard to get rid of. It is a thing that consumes us, and it keeps us from thinking clearly. And when we get carried away with our anger, we become uncontrollable, blind with rage, hard and cold to all things, distant from being able to Identify with IkOankar. This anger plunders the jewel-like deep knowledge that we have within us, the Identification of IkOankar. And when we are in it, this anger does not allow anything else to work with it. It does not allow our Nam, or Identification of and connection to IkOankar, to take root.
O wise ones! This mind cannot be caught. The Guru says that even the ones who are supposed to have control and discipline — the Yogis who have made great efforts and the virtuous ones who have sung the virtues — are exhausted. Even these people who have tried everything have lost, despite their efforts to contemplate and live the virtues of the One. They have lost because they, too, are struggling with this anger and craving, and desire. This is because even those self-directed efforts contain self-centeredness or self-awareness that breaks. It is not grace or compassion which drives these efforts. They are not leaning on IkOankar. But, the Guru says, when we feel the compassion of the dearest 1-Light, or the dearest all-pervasive One, then all of these methods and efforts come together to control the mind and rid it of its craving and its anger. It is the grace and compassion of the One that is all-powerful — not the efforts we make. This is how grace carries us through and becomes our foundation and our guide. This is how our efforts become victorious.
There are all kinds of knowledges in the world, all kinds of things people try to deal with desire and anger, these two driving forces of great fickleness and great hardness. But even those who try various methods with great effort and discipline, even those who are trying to use the virtues of the One within their own methodologies, find that it yields no fruit. When our efforts are guided by compassion and grace and not by method, we are able to live in the refuge of IkOankar, whose compassionate steering and guidance are what we need. Guru Teghbahadar uses the signature ‘Nanak’ and invokes the word votary — even all Gurus, all Nanaks are serving the All-Pervasive. If even Nanak is the votary, why do we think we are above that? Our efforts become fruitful when they are worthy of it, when the pride of our minds is no longer there. Will we become votaries like the Guru and let compassion guide us?
In the fourth composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, O wise ones! This mind cannot be caught. It dwells with fickle craving, and due to this, does not remain steady. Desire does not allow for the mind to be steady because desire itself is fickle and momentary — what we crave in one moment changes to something else so quickly. We know this! We know that our day-to-day desires are in constant motion, shifting and morphing even from minute to minute. And because the mind is dwelling with this fickle craving, it moves as our cravings do. It is uncatchable. It is frenzied and wavering and constantly running in ten different directions, towards the material, and towards our relationships. It is due to living in the fickleness of desire that the mind is unable to remain steady.
O wise ones! This mind cannot be caught. The Guru says there is fierce and callous anger within the body, and it is that hardness, that anger, that has caused us to forget all awareness of IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). The anger within the body is hard to break and hard to get rid of. It is a thing that consumes us, and it keeps us from thinking clearly. And when we get carried away with our anger, we become uncontrollable, blind with rage, hard and cold to all things, distant from being able to Identify with IkOankar. This anger plunders the jewel-like deep knowledge that we have within us, the Identification of IkOankar. And when we are in it, this anger does not allow anything else to work with it. It does not allow our Nam, or Identification of and connection to IkOankar, to take root.
O wise ones! This mind cannot be caught. The Guru says that even the ones who are supposed to have control and discipline — the Yogis who have made great efforts and the virtuous ones who have sung the virtues — are exhausted. Even these people who have tried everything have lost, despite their efforts to contemplate and live the virtues of the One. They have lost because they, too, are struggling with this anger and craving, and desire. This is because even those self-directed efforts contain self-centeredness or self-awareness that breaks. It is not grace or compassion which drives these efforts. They are not leaning on IkOankar. But, the Guru says, when we feel the compassion of the dearest 1-Light, or the dearest all-pervasive One, then all of these methods and efforts come together to control the mind and rid it of its craving and its anger. It is the grace and compassion of the One that is all-powerful — not the efforts we make. This is how grace carries us through and becomes our foundation and our guide. This is how our efforts become victorious.
There are all kinds of knowledges in the world, all kinds of things people try to deal with desire and anger, these two driving forces of great fickleness and great hardness. But even those who try various methods with great effort and discipline, even those who are trying to use the virtues of the One within their own methodologies, find that it yields no fruit. When our efforts are guided by compassion and grace and not by method, we are able to live in the refuge of IkOankar, whose compassionate steering and guidance are what we need. Guru Teghbahadar uses the signature ‘Nanak’ and invokes the word votary — even all Gurus, all Nanaks are serving the All-Pervasive. If even Nanak is the votary, why do we think we are above that? Our efforts become fruitful when they are worthy of it, when the pride of our minds is no longer there. Will we become votaries like the Guru and let compassion guide us?
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