Anand Sanskar | Wedding Ceremony 1/2

Guru Nanak Sahib, Guru Ramdas Sahib

Suhi is a rag (musical mode) of enthusiasm. It is associated with deep love and devotion and evokes reverential adoration. This rag creates a mood of love beyond romance — a longing to experience it and a delight in doing so. Just as wedding ceremonies are passed through generations and are considered relatively ‘old,’ Suhi is one of the oldest rags. Deep love and devotion are among the oldest things we have tapped into and expressed. This old and deep love has always existed, but it is presented differently by different cultures. The idea of a love beyond time is deeply emotional, and these compositions are also deeply emotional. 

In the first composition, Guru Ramdas invoked the Wisdom and the Wisdom-oriented beings. In this composition, Guru Nanak directly invokes the Beautiful and Pervasive One, IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). In stanza one of this second composition, the Guru says, Come, O Dearest Friend! May I see a glimpse of You! In this direct and intimate conversation, the human-bride, the seeker, is asking the One to come into their heart: I want to see You! There is no circling what we actually want to say or game-playing or overly-done eloquence. The ask is simple and comes from the depths of one’s own being. What does it mean for the One to come into our hearts, to be seen? We are able to feel the presence of the One within us, and we are able to experience the One in a way that is beyond logic and philosophical arguments. The seeker is eagerly awaiting the One, gazing expectantly at the ‘door’ of their heart. The Guru refers to the heart as of the seeker and of the Divine. Both belong there. The One is not a guest in our heart-homes. And in our waiting, the mind is full of joy and excitement. We are longing and yearning, but this is an exciting yearning rather than a painful separation or sorrowful time. The Guru shows us that when the seeker is so intimately connected with the Divine, such that they can even ask so directly for presence, even the thought of experiencing that presence fills them with excitement and joy. 

The Guru continues much joy is in my mind, listen, O my Prabhu! You are my only support. The seeker has great trust and confidence in the eventual ‘arrival’ of the One in their heart-home, and because of this trust, asks again for presence in a state of great joy. The use of the word Prabhu is important. Prabhu is a name that invokes the royal and godlike nature of the One, whose nature is to fulfill a particular role of goodness and compassion. This is the One who is capable of helping us when no one else can. But the seeker invokes Prabhu with a possessive! My Prabhu. This relationship has great intimacy even as the One is godlike and royal and referred to in this positional way. This is how the seeker can truly say that they are not dependent on anyone and that their only support is IkOankar, the One outside of Maya, or attachment to the material and relationships. We see the excitement of this freedom in this composition: I see you, and I am free from everything! The ultimate pain of birth and life is gone! This love frees us. This love eliminates our suffering. This is the kind of old love that Rag Suhi calls forth. 

The Guru, continuing to speak as the human-bride or seeker, reflects, Your light is in all. The One pervading creation is You alone. You have been found through love, through deep love. This experience of Love that is old and transcendent and frees one from fears of birth and death, suffering, and pain, is not just for particular seekers. It is not exclusive to the few. This relationship with IkOankar is for everyone. It is found by those who love. They find it naturally through love. The seeker’s reflections elevate this to the level of all people. We may know and understand that IkOankar is present in all of creation and that the Light is in all. But do we long for it experientially? Do we really believe that in a way evident in our behaviors? Even in our worldly, romantic, and platonic relationships, we struggle with a kind of jealousy or habit of comparing our relationships with a person to those they might have with others. We might want to lay exclusive claims over the people we feel closest to. We might struggle to work through a sense of ownership or territoriality. We do this because we know that a single person cannot be everything to anyone and that our worldly relationships change over time. We have limited time and attention. But in this relationship with the One, there is no shortage of attention, connection, or intimacy with all beings. The feeling of presence, connection, and deep love that one seeker has with IkOankar does not mean that others cannot also have that experience. The storehouses of this love do not ever diminish. Even if not everyone has the desire to meet the dearest Friend yet, IkOankar can be known by all seekers in this way, through that Light, through that transcendent Love.  

At the end of the stanza, Guru Nanak makes a kind of supplication or states a hope for all human-brides, for all seekers: May I be devoted to the dearest Friend. The Guru says that IkOankar, having come into the home, has been met through the eternal Nam (Identification with IkOankar). We understand through the experience of the human-bride whose voice echoes through this stanza, that this is a relationship and an experience of presence available to all of us. When we experience and feel it through Identification with IkOankar, deep connection, and emotion, we find that it expands our entire world. We begin to understand the pervasiveness and constant presence of the Beloved everywhere. We experience the transcendence of a Love that takes the ultimate pains of the world and eliminates them, which reminds us that the Light is within us, too. This will naturally happen to us. This desire will come, and the One will come to us when we are ready. Will we gaze expectantly at the doors of these heart-homes? Will we ask for a glimpse? Will we trust that it will happen to us? Will we find joy in the waiting?