sāhibu simrahu mere bhāīho sabhnā ehu païāṇā.
ethai dhandhā kūṛā cāri dihā āgai sarpar jāṇā.
āgai sarpar jāṇā jiu mihmāṇā kāhe gārabu kījai.
jitu seviai dargah sukhu pāīai nāmu tisai kā lījai.
āgai hukamu na calai mūle siri siri kiā vihāṇā.
sāhibu simrihu mere bhāīho sabhnā ehu païāṇā.2.
-Guru Granth Sahib 579
This composition is based on the Panjabi folk poetic form Alahania related to death. In the first stanza, the message of worldly destructibility is conveyed while glorifying IkOankar, the Creator. In the second stanza, the being is advised to give up pride and remember IkOankar. In the third stanza, the life of those beings is considered fruitful, who single-mindedly remember the eternal IkOankar. Everything happens according to the will of IkOankar; human effort is only a means to that end. In the last stanza it is conveyed that crying for worldly things is useless. Crying in longing and love of IkOankar is meaningful.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the second stanza, Guru Nanak says, remember the Sovereign, my truth-oriented friends! All have to make this departure. We are urged to remember IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One). These dealings in the world are false—they are temporary. The Guru describes them as being only of four days as a play on the Indic understanding that four ages lasting hundreds of thousands of years. Instead, the emphasis is on how quickly time goes—how short our time here really is. And when that time is finished, we must go on to whatever comes next. Along the theme of the fleeting nature of life, the Guru describes every being as a ‘guest.’ Our stay here is temporary. So why should we be prideful? What are we putting our energy into? The Guru says one ought to utter and experience the Nam (Identification with IkOankar) of only that Sovereign whom by serving happiness is found in the Court. Beyond this place and time, in the hereafter, our own commands do not work at all. So, the Guru asked us in an urging toward reflection, what will fall on each and every head there? What consequences will we bear?
In the first stanza, the Guru acknowledges that when a person dies, those left behind cry and mourn, expressing their pain and sorrow. But after that acknowledgment, the question might come—what is the wisdom we ought to gain? What things might we do so that we do not have to cry when our allotted time comes to a close, and our breaths run out? How do we live to feel we have gained something while alive? The Guru shows us that we can do this through remembrance of the eternal Sovereign, IkOankar. We can make it the work of our lives, and it can bring us great comfort in a world full of falsehood, in lives that are so temporary it is as if they last only four days. We will not be afflicted by the falsehood of the world, we will not take pride in the material world, we will not feed our egos, and we will instead go to the next phase of life having spent this time fruitfully. There is no place for ego in the hereafter. Only our remembrance will go with us. Only our Identification with the One will go with us. These are the things that will bring us happiness in the Court.
None of our individual commands will prevail when we depart this world into the hereafter. We must all bear the consequences of our own actions. We must reap what we have sown while we are here on earth. So, the Guru says again, Remember the Sovereign. The guidance is not complicated, but we make it complicated. We think the work of our lives is accumulating wealth, success, material things, or power. We feed our egos and forget that nothing will go with us. We forget that all this life goes quickly. Will we make Remembrance the work of our lives? Will we make Identification the work of our lives? Will we come to the Court free of the filth of falsehood that surrounded us here?
In the first stanza, the Guru acknowledges that when a person dies, those left behind cry and mourn, expressing their pain and sorrow. But after that acknowledgment, the question might come—what is the wisdom we ought to gain? What things might we do so that we do not have to cry when our allotted time comes to a close, and our breaths run out? How do we live to feel we have gained something while alive? The Guru shows us that we can do this through remembrance of the eternal Sovereign, IkOankar. We can make it the work of our lives, and it can bring us great comfort in a world full of falsehood, in lives that are so temporary it is as if they last only four days. We will not be afflicted by the falsehood of the world, we will not take pride in the material world, we will not feed our egos, and we will instead go to the next phase of life having spent this time fruitfully. There is no place for ego in the hereafter. Only our remembrance will go with us. Only our Identification with the One will go with us. These are the things that will bring us happiness in the Court.
None of our individual commands will prevail when we depart this world into the hereafter. We must all bear the consequences of our own actions. We must reap what we have sown while we are here on earth. So, the Guru says again, Remember the Sovereign. The guidance is not complicated, but we make it complicated. We think the work of our lives is accumulating wealth, success, material things, or power. We feed our egos and forget that nothing will go with us. We forget that all this life goes quickly. Will we make Remembrance the work of our lives? Will we make Identification the work of our lives? Will we come to the Court free of the filth of falsehood that surrounded us here?
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