saloku.
nārāiṇu nah simrio mohio suād bikār.
nānak nāmi bisāriai narak surag avtār.9.
-Guru Granth Sahib 298
Guru Arjan Sahib depicts vices and materialistic pleasures binding the being who forgets Nam (Identification with IkOankar). They continue to suffer worldly pains and comforts. Corresponding to the fifteen-day lunar calendar and each pauri (stanza) correlates to each day formed by the waxing and waning of the moon. The ninth pauri states that such beings continue being engrossed in vices. They make every effort to fulfill their desires, and still, their cravings do not end. They continue to wander, unsatisfied.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the ninth salok (couplet), Guru Arjan says that the one who has not remembered Narayan is enchanted by tastes and vices. Narayan is invoked as one of the many names for IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), referring to IkOankar as the Steady One. When we do not remember the Steady One, we become engrossed in the enchantment of all of the flavors and vices of this world, driven this way and that by our desire to taste everything and do everything. We are unable to steady ourselves because these things take us in, and in our engrossment, we have forgotten Nam or Identification with IkOankar. It is in this forgetfulness that we fall into the hells and the heavens. We are constantly preoccupied with worrying about what will happen to us after we die. Will we find salvation? Reward? Suffering? Consequences? It is in our forgetfulness that we oscillate between the two in this life, being condemned and celebrated, rewarded and given consequences of our choices, caught up in this cyclical movement. We cannot find steadiness there either.
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