Guru Teghbahadar Sahib describes the hearts of those who connect with IkOankar (the Divine), unaffected by earthly pleasures and desires. These beings are free from the dichotomies of sorrow-happiness and praise-slander and unbothered by lust and anger. These beings remain connected with IkOankar, merging with IkOankar as water into water.
soraṭhi mahalā 9.
jo naru dukh mai dukhu nahī mānai.
sukh sanehu aru bhai nahī jā kai kancan māṭī mānai.1. rahāu.
nah nindiā nah ustati jā kai lobhu mohu abhimānā.
harakh sog te rahai niāraü nāhi mān apmānā.1.
āsā mansā sagal tiāgai jag te rahai nirāsā.
kāmu krodhu jih parsai nāhani tih ghaṭi brahamu nivāsā.2.
gur kirpā jih nar kaü kīnī tih ih jugati pachānī.
nānak līn bhaïo gobind siu jiu pānī saṅgi pānī.3.11.
-Guru Granth Sahib 633-634
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the eleventh composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, the being who does not feel pain in suffering, within whom there is no love for happiness and fear, considers gold as soil. This is a statement on those who have been able to live in steadiness, where they do not feel pain amidst the pains, who live through it and are not thrown away or uprooted by it. They understand that pain is not the end result, that the pains we may feel day to day are not the greatest of pains — that the greatest pain is separation. These are the beings who are not in love with comforts and not fearful, who do not see the difference between the most precious things and the least precious things. Those who have this understanding have understood and placed the teaching within their consciousnesses. They are not chasing comforts and live their lives in full acceptance.
The being who does not feel pain in suffering, within whom there is no love for happiness and fear, considers gold as soil. This is the being within whom there is neither slander nor praise for anyone, within whom there is no greed or attachment, or pride. This is the being who is able to transcend happiness and sorrow, positives and negatives, ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ who is not bothered about or concerned with honor or dishonor.
The being who does not feel pain in suffering, within whom there is no love for happiness and fear, considers gold as soil. This is the being who abandons all expectations and desires, remains free of expectation from the world, free of feeling owed something by the people around them or by the world in general. This is the being who is not touched or driven by lust and anger. This is the being in whose heart the One dwells. This is where the Supreme Being comes to be realized and felt.
The being who does not feel pain in suffering, within whom there is no love for happiness and fear, considers gold as soil. The being on whom the Wisdom has bestowed grace is the being who has recognized this way, how to live like this, in this kind of detachment and steadiness. This is the being who has become merged with the Earth-Knower, like water in water, indistinguishable. This is the being whose knowing has been developed to a point where they are in sync with the Knower and become like the Knower.
We might read this last line, that the being who is able to live in this kind of steadiness and detachment merges with the Earth-Knower, and think that this sounds impossible or surprising. How can a person like this stay in the world? How can they transcend these things that are so powerful? How do they remain steady, even while struggling in life? This mystery is not understood until we have really grasped the method from the Wisdom. It is then that we will understand how to accept the pain we are having while we have it, to continue and move through suffering. Will we begin to walk the path toward this understanding? Will we make an effort to become like the Earth-Knower in our thoughts, perceptions, and actions?