Anjulia

Guru Arjan Sahib

This composition, revealed by Guru Arjan, is composed in Rag (musical mode) Maru, a mode that inspires victory in battle. While this musical mode comes from physical warrior traditions, here it signifies victory in the war of life. The battles we face in this larger war are with our egos, our vices, and our tendencies to accumulate—all of which lead us to lose the battle of being in remembrance of our source, IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One). This composition is one of a group of compositions titled Anjulia in the Guru Granth Sahib. Anjulia evokes a sense of both offering and receiving. While Anjuli and Anjulia in South Asian culture invoke imagery of salutations, greetings, and ritual offerings, Guru Arjan invokes Anjulia here in the greatest sense of the word. The offering and receiving described here is the intimate act of offering ourselves to IkOankar so that we may receive the Grace of unity with IkOankar. 

Guru Arjan opens the composition, painting an image of a tree in our minds; this tree represents life on Earth, our coming into and out of this world: Under the tree, all beings have gathered. Some speak bitter, some speak sweet words. Imagine a vast prairie with a single, sprawling, deeply rooted tree standing strong and tall in the open. As another day comes to an end, the birds and animals of the region return to take shelter in and among this old tree. This returning to the tree represents our coming into this world, the cyclicality of our lives, and existence. Some beings return to this tree every evening, while others do not. Some of us continue in this world, some do not. Some of us are reborn into this world, some aren’t. As the birds and creatures chitter-chatter, some gawk and screech in their own drama, while others sing beautifully with the serenity of the sunset. In the same way, we humans engage with the world: some constantly clamor, speaking with sharp harshness and arrogance, while others dwell in ever-present serenity and speak with sweet humility. Some choose to lead with love—prioritizing humility and learning—while the harshness of the world leads others to act in bitter, unforgiving ways. Guru Arjan likens the ending of our lives to the rising of the sun each day, when the birds and beings leave the tree. The setting and rising of the sun are cyclical—as far as we know, they will keep happening each day. So too do our lives come and go in a cyclicality we have come to know well and anticipate.

Guru Arjan continues from this lofty vantage point. Of the beings gathered in the world, some leave it having overcome their challenges, while others remain stuck: The ones who commit sins were surely deceived. Having repeatedly seized, Azrael killed them. We think we can get away with our transgressions, yet in doing so, we only deceive ourselves. We forget that the Command operates at all times and in all places. Guru Arjan firmly reminds us that we will account for all of our actions, whether that’s today, tomorrow, or after our lives in these bodies. The timing is irrelevant; the point is that we deceive ourselves into thinking that accountability won’t happen. Guru Arjan invokes Azrael, an archetypal figure from Islam known as the Angel of Death. Oftentimes, Azrael is associated with stark imagery—dragging transgressors to hell and ending their lives. Guru Arjan is not endorsing any particular belief system here. Rather, the resounding message is that regardless of our background or religious tradition, the outcomes of our transgressions are inescapable, and everything we do is accounted for by IkOankar.

Guru Arjan awakens us to the understanding that this journey is our own; in the end, nobody can help, and nothing comes along with us: No brother or sister came with the being. They departed, having abandoned material objects, youth, wealth.  There is nothing that can change the course of our actions or what we reap from the seeds we’ve sown. While our family may be helpful in worldly matters, they have no power to save us from the deeds for which we alone are accountable. All that we’ve become most attached to, what we’ve found valuable, is also of no help when our time comes to leave our bodies. When that time dawns wherein we account for our actions, we proceed alone in the most literal sense of the word. It’s for this reason that people scramble to practice whatever they’ve been told will negate or cushion their wrongdoings. Imagining this is stark and unsettling, as none of us has lived without fault or shortcoming. The power we do have, Guru Arjan says, is our relationship with the Doer, the beneficent Creator, which we have the opportunity to build during our lives. Guru Arjan invokes vivid imagery of sesame seeds being crushed in an oil-press to illustrate what happens when we pass through this world without remembering IkOankar. The machinery pulverizes us to shreds, leaving us unrecognizable. This graphic image serves as a powerful reminder that those of us squandering our time are just another number among the billions who have done the same. What we do will always have consequences and outcomes; we can choose to plant beautiful seeds of remembrance that distinguish us, or seeds that produce no fruit in what truly matters. The time to remember the Graciousness of IkOankar is now; if we fail to acknowledge the Grace of IkOankar in this life, losing the greater war, we are sure to suffer the consequences.

Guru Arjan calls awareness to our habits of greed, attachment, and forgetfulness: O being! Having repeatedly snatched, you take the thing of another. Khuda sees, hears, with you. Violence and selfishness abound in the world. Out of greed, people steal others’ possessions, relationships, and even ideas. We covet what we envy, and when we get it, we continue hungering for more. On a global scale, land is constantly being occupied and seized to concentrate power and resources, accumulating more for those who already have more than enough. There’s rarely any acknowledgment that Khuda, the eternal One, knows all that we do. There is little recognition that all this violence and selfishness is seen by, and will be accounted for by, IkOankar, according to IkOankar’s command. Guru Arjan says that because of this endless greed, we are lying in a pit. Globally, humans are existentially lying in a pit, and as individuals, we dig our own pits by acting and trading in greed, and then we lie in them. Guru Arjan calls out our selective memories, reminding us that we do not know what lies ahead; we choose to act in transgression, assuming we will get away with it. It is certainly not in this forgetfulness that we become victorious; in fact, that is how we lose the battle—victory is in the remembrance of IkOankar, the eternal One, in every moment and in every place.

Guru Arjan reminds us of the cycle we remain in as a result of our forgetfulness: The being, having been born again and again, dies; dies and takes birth again; suffers immense punishment. The being has set on the path to the distant land. The greed which we let overcome us, the forgetfulness we immerse ourselves in, the paying attention to our own will rather than attaching to the Will of IkOankar—these things keep us bound. We continue seeking fulfilment, lost in the mire of illusory material gains rather than walking towards the greatest joy of union with IkOankar. Guru Arjan says we are set on a path to a distant, foreign land, highlighting how long and arduous this journey of forgetfulness is. We never know where we will end up next. We come and go in different times, places, and lifeforms as we wander in separation; the stable home available in remembrance of IkOankar is never entered. Because we do not remember the One who created us, because we walk in the blindness of self-orientation, we have to bear the suffering and distress that is inherent to our illusion of separation from IkOankar. In the spirit of Rag Maru, each time we act in self-orientation, we diverge from the path of victory; our victory in this battle of life lies in orientation to the One, choosing to walk in remembrance, in the Will. 

Guru Arjan says that in overlooking what brings us true stability, we are tied to the unpredictability of the material world: The being strayed from the Creator is deceived. The play of the world is bad; the being is sometimes disappointed, sometimes happy. Like a moth to a flame, we are deceived; we fly toward what attracts us, yet it leads to our demise. Enticed by the intrigue and luster of materiality, we become blind to the immense beauty of the Creator who makes all. Instead of attaching to the beauty of the One, we rely on external pleasures and successes for happiness, tossed about by the ups and downs of life. In excess, we may feel ecstatic, yet remain unfulfilled. We seek to acquire more; we seek more tastes, sights, sounds, sensations, and pleasurable emotions. Not a single one of them offers a lasting satiety—we are always jumping from one to the next. In scarcity, we become angry, perturbed, spiteful, and even curse the Will, even if we experienced excess not long ago. This is the deceptive nature of material things and relationships—they are transient and illusory. We allow them to rob us, to loot us of the treasure of remembrance we have never learned to guard or appreciate. We think contentment lies externally, yet overlook the contentment that IkOankar provides in each moment. Guru Arjan says we have not met the Saint-Guru; we have not found a way to live and walk in Truth, with conviction and patience. We pay attention only to our own pleasures and limited intellects, losing the daily battle of remembrance. At any moment, we have the opportunity to change our orientation to the greater Will and heed what is Written by IkOankar. By walking in the way of those who exemplify Truth, by learning to live in and navigate this world through the Wisdom-Guru, we are restored with conviction, patience, and faith in our path as seekers, wherein we are victorious in the war of life. 

Guru Arjan illuminates that these cycles and illusions we experience are all part of the intelligence of IkOankar: The Liberator Own-Self creates all plays. Some beings have been taken out, some are trapped in the wave. We are invited to a sense of humility and reassurance through this line after the highlighting of our shortcomings in previous lines. Here, we are met with a much-needed reminder that this is the play of IkOankar. Our actions matter, and we can choose to heed our own intellect or walk in that of IkOankar, yet the challenge therein is IkOankar’s design. IkOankar is the Creator, the One who constructs all the ways of the universe, and it is within that design that we get caught in illusion, become inspired, and strive for remembrance and union. In this sense, pain and separation are inherent to the play and our relationship with IkOankar. Some come to dwell in remembrance of the Creator, and their cycle of wandering ends; others remain trapped in the illusions of greed, attachment, and self-orientation. It is in IkOankar’s will that we do what we do; as IkOankar causes us to dance, so we dance. Knowing this, we ought to remember in our daily battles that our actions unfold in the will of IkOankar—that is, our lives unfold in accordance with the actions we take, all operating under the Creator’s design. In this larger sense, victory in the greater war of life is humbly recognizing the all-encompassing will of the Creator and choosing to walk within that Will, rather than within our own will. 

We are left with a grounding reminder of the role of Grace on our journey, and the importance of being in the company of other Truth-oriented beings: If the Master bestows grace, then the being can meditate upon the Master. Because of the company of saintly beings, the being does not fall into hell. We can do all kinds of things to walk in the Will and open ourselves to connection with IkOankar. We can learn to redirect ourselves from our vices, strive to be in remembrance, or serve others, but unity is not a calculation, nor is it about technique or success. Success is not something we can claim here, as the union isn’t our doing alone! Genuine remembrance all comes down to receiving Grace. It is when we receive Grace that we come to dwell on and be in remembrance of IkOankar, the Creator. Walking this way is a unique path; we may flounder attempting this on our own. In the company of Wisdom-oriented beings, we walk with greater strength and conviction. We are protected from falling into the same cycles of forgetfulness and endless wandering. We don’t slip into small-mindedness and self-orientation as easily, as we are all watching one another walk in Truth and Love. In this collective of seekers, we are inspired and fortified by remembrance. Guru Arjan reminds us that all Guru embodiments are of the same light: invoking the name of Guru Nanak, he leaves us with an earnest plea to IkOankar—hands, heart, and mind open to receive. This plea is to receive Grace to keep walking with immense Love for IkOankar and to keep singing IkOankar’s praises. The gift of amrit-Nam is sought—a sense of sublime and ambrosial Identification with IkOankar—an experience that transforms us into who we truly are and opens us to an internal sense of immortality in union. This really is the ask for victory! This is the ask to remember our inherent nature of unity with IkOankar amidst the daily battle, to remain in loving remembrance of the graciousness of IkOankar, and to experience unity with IkOankar in every moment.

Through this composition, Guru Arjan takes us on a mind-opening journey, recounting what’s really happening here in these lives. At the beginning, we are reminded of our nature as seekers. We all come into this world and gather under the tree of life. With all our days numbered, we share an equal playing field here. Losing sight of our limited time and the importance of victory here, we gossip, steal from others, and get pulled into the deep waters of forgetfulness. Deceived by the illusory nature of the material world, we mistakenly come to believe that’s all there is because we forget IkOankar. Guru Arjan reminds us of the importance of victory here, the importance of our actions, and that everything we do here has an outcome, whether that’s today, tomorrow, or after the death of our bodies. We cannot simply scrape by without being held to account for how we spend our time, and that accounting is sure to be challenging. This is the game of IkOankar—the forgetfulness, the feelings of urgency, and the call to responsibility are all part of the play. Some will become inspired and seek union; others will follow their own minds and subjective wills, and that, too, is part of the play. Guru Arjan illuminates what we’re truly seeking: to be victorious in the daily battle of life we’re involved in. We’re seeking Grace. We’re seeking Identification. We long to receive the gift of an ever-present song of praise for IkOankar, flowing from us naturally like birdsong. Imbued with that love, we walk in victory in these lives. Our inherent nature of union is not robbed from us by the external world; we are not deceived by material allure. We can only receive Grace by offering ourselves, offering ourselves fully. Will we offer ourselves to IkOankar? Will we long to sing the praises of IkOankar more than anything else? Will we join the company of others who sing those praises, who live in Love and Truth?