hari rām rām mere bābolā pir mili dhan vel vadhandī.
hari jugah jugo jug jugah jugo sad pīṛī gurū calandī.
jugi jugi pīṛī calai satigur kī jinī gurmukhi nāmu dhiāiā.
hari purakhu na kab hī binsai jāvai nit devai caṛai savāiā.
nānak sant sant hari eko japi hari hari nāmu sohandī.
hari rām rām mere bābulā pir mili dhan vel vadhandī.5.1.
-Guru Granth Sahib 79
This Sabad’s second pauri (stanza) holds a special place during the wedding ceremony. After reciting the four stanzas of the Lavan composition and six stanzas of Anand Sahib, the second stanza of this Sabad is either sung or recited. Within this Sabad, the Guru uses the metaphor of worldly marriage to impart guidance on life’s path. The first stanza addresses how one can experience IkOankar, suggesting that this union is attainable by embracing the Guru’s wisdom and recognizing the value within the realm of IkOankar while living in the earthly world. The second stanza expresses the joy of experiencing IkOankar, while the third stanza emphasizes the union with IkOankar through meeting devotees and the subsequent bliss it brings. In the fourth stanza, IkOankar and IkOankar’s Nam are sought as a dowry, gracefully concluding the process of union with IkOankar. Lastly, this composition conveys that through union with the all-Pervading IkOankar, the seeker’s lineage progresses.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the fifth stanza, the Guru says, O my dear father! Having met the 1-Light, the Beautiful One, the Divine-Husband, IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force the One), the vine of the human-bride grows. In a worldly sense, after one’s marriage, there is an expectation or societal expectation that the couple will continue life and establish their own lineage. In this wedding, in this union, the seeker is the human-bride regardless of their worldly gender-identity. The Guru emphasizes that in all eras, in all times, through ages and ages and ages, the lineage of the Wisdom will always continue if these kinds of weddings take place. In this union with the Divine, the lineage of the Wisdom will continue because the seekers continue to practice devotion and Identification and Remembrance. The seekers are continuing to cultivate a relationship with the Spouse. The seekers continue pursuing a relationship with the Spouse that transcends the worldly. This lineage of the Wisdom will continue through the Wisdom-oriented seekers.
Again, the Guru emphasizes that in age after age, the lineage of the eternal Wisdom will move forward, as will the lineage of those seekers who have practiced Remembrance and Identification of the One. This is not about physical offspring but how seekers multiply as they exist in a community with one another, seeking guidance from truth-oriented or virtuous seekers and becoming truth-oriented seekers themselves. The community of devotees will always expand. Identification is not what we have made it — it is not a dead remembrance, chanting, or emptying of the mind. Identification is an experience. It is not a presentation or display. Identification is shown in one’s behavior. It pours out of the seeker and serves as inspiration for others. The Guru says that the 1-Light, the all-pervading IkOankar, neither perishes nor departs. IkOankar is eternal and gives and gives and gives. The storehouse of this giving never depletes. There is only abundance, and that abundance only multiplies. This is why the lineage of the eternal Wisdom continues through ages and ages and ages.
The Guru ends by saying that the Wisdom and the 1-Light are the same. The Wisdom-centered truth-exemplars and the 1-Light are the same. We become like that One, the Beloved. We go from being seekers who enjoy the Divine to becoming one and the same with the Divine so that we can become those virtuous ones for others. We become beautiful through Remembrance and Identification. We make our lives beautiful through this continued Remembrance. The community of seekers grows, and seekers become connected with the Spouse, facilitating connection as new seekers begin to walk this path. The seekers are of truth-exemplars, who themselves were of other truth-exemplars, and the lineage continues through Remembrance of the One. The truth-exemplars facilitate these unions through Identification. They show other seekers how to become beautiful through Identification — how to make their behaviors beautiful. And this community expands, this lineage grows, abundant through the ages. Do we want to become part of this lineage? Will we make an effort to become like the Beloved? Will we become beautiful in our Remembrance?
Throughout this composition, Guru Ramdas speaks from the register of the human-bride, the young and excited new bride who is at her parent’s home to be married. What kind of home will she end up in? What does she want? We, as seekers, are like this young bride. We may not be aware of everything, but we are excited to learn. It is in discovering various awarenesses that we can have the experience the Guru describes. We do not have to know everything to pursue this relationship with the Spouse, IkOankar. We can transcend these worldly ceremonies and symbolisms, worldly dichotomies, and anxieties, and we can become carefree and devoted in our relationship with the One. Will we pursue this transcendent Love? Will we ask for a dowry of Identification? Will we seek the company of the truth-exemplars, of the virtuous, of the devoted ones? Will we continue the lineage of the eternal Wisdom?
Again, the Guru emphasizes that in age after age, the lineage of the eternal Wisdom will move forward, as will the lineage of those seekers who have practiced Remembrance and Identification of the One. This is not about physical offspring but how seekers multiply as they exist in a community with one another, seeking guidance from truth-oriented or virtuous seekers and becoming truth-oriented seekers themselves. The community of devotees will always expand. Identification is not what we have made it — it is not a dead remembrance, chanting, or emptying of the mind. Identification is an experience. It is not a presentation or display. Identification is shown in one’s behavior. It pours out of the seeker and serves as inspiration for others. The Guru says that the 1-Light, the all-pervading IkOankar, neither perishes nor departs. IkOankar is eternal and gives and gives and gives. The storehouse of this giving never depletes. There is only abundance, and that abundance only multiplies. This is why the lineage of the eternal Wisdom continues through ages and ages and ages.
The Guru ends by saying that the Wisdom and the 1-Light are the same. The Wisdom-centered truth-exemplars and the 1-Light are the same. We become like that One, the Beloved. We go from being seekers who enjoy the Divine to becoming one and the same with the Divine so that we can become those virtuous ones for others. We become beautiful through Remembrance and Identification. We make our lives beautiful through this continued Remembrance. The community of seekers grows, and seekers become connected with the Spouse, facilitating connection as new seekers begin to walk this path. The seekers are of truth-exemplars, who themselves were of other truth-exemplars, and the lineage continues through Remembrance of the One. The truth-exemplars facilitate these unions through Identification. They show other seekers how to become beautiful through Identification — how to make their behaviors beautiful. And this community expands, this lineage grows, abundant through the ages. Do we want to become part of this lineage? Will we make an effort to become like the Beloved? Will we become beautiful in our Remembrance?
Throughout this composition, Guru Ramdas speaks from the register of the human-bride, the young and excited new bride who is at her parent’s home to be married. What kind of home will she end up in? What does she want? We, as seekers, are like this young bride. We may not be aware of everything, but we are excited to learn. It is in discovering various awarenesses that we can have the experience the Guru describes. We do not have to know everything to pursue this relationship with the Spouse, IkOankar. We can transcend these worldly ceremonies and symbolisms, worldly dichotomies, and anxieties, and we can become carefree and devoted in our relationship with the One. Will we pursue this transcendent Love? Will we ask for a dowry of Identification? Will we seek the company of the truth-exemplars, of the virtuous, of the devoted ones? Will we continue the lineage of the eternal Wisdom?
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