Logo
Guru Nanak Sahib depicts the world as a play created by IkOankar (the Divine), whose command creates and destroys beings and things within a moment. To substantiate this, the Guru describes the town of Saidpur, which was full of activity just a few days before, but now is home to only destruction in the attack by Babur’s forces.
āsā    mahalā    1.  
 
kahā  su  
Bani footnote Many interpreters have translated ‘su’ as that also.
   khel  tabelā  ghoṛe   kahā  bherī  sahnāī.  
kahā  su  tegband  gāḍeraṛi   kahā  su  lāl  kavāī.  
kahā  su  ārsīā  muh  baṅke   aithai  disahi  nāhī.1.  
ihu  jagu  terā    gosāī.  
ek  ghaṛī  mahi  thāpi  uthāpe   jaru  vanḍi  devai  bhāīṁ.1.  rahāu.  
kahāṁ  su  ghar  dar    manḍap  mahalā   kahā  su  baṅk  sarāī.  
kahāṁ  su  sej  sukhālī  kāmaṇi   jisu  vekhi  nīd  na  pāī.  
kahā  su  pān  tambolī  harmā   hoīā  chāī  māī.2.  
isu  jar  kāraṇi  ghaṇī  vigutī   ini  jar  ghaṇī  khuāī.  
pāpā  bājhahu  hovai    nāhī   muiā  sāthi  na  jāī.  
jis  no  āpi  khuāe  kartā   khusi  lae  caṅgiāī.3.  
koṭī    pīr  varaji  rahāe    mīru  suṇiā  dhāiā.  
thān  mukām  jale  bij  mandar   muchi  muchi  kuir  rulāiā.  
Bani footnote rulāi+ā.
   
koī  mugalu  na  hoā  andhā   kinai  na  parcā  lāiā.4.  
mugal  paṭhāṇā  bhaī  laṛāī   raṇ  mahi  teg  vagāī.  
on̖ī  tupak  tāṇi  calāī   on̖ī  hasati  ciṛāī.  
jin̖    cīrī  dargah  pāṭī   tin̖ā  marṇā  bhāī.5.  
ik  hindvāṇī  avar  turkāṇī   bhaṭiāṇī  ṭhakurāṇī.  
ikn̖ā  peraṇ  
Bani footnote Robe, dress.
   sir  khur  pāṭe   ikn̖ā  vāsu  masāṇī.  
jin̖  ke    baṅke    gharī  na  āiā  
Bani footnote āiā: āe+ā, have come. "The verb ‘āiā’ (came) used with plural masculine nouns is a compound of three separate verb parts (ā + e + ā), and thus, is a masculine plural verb in the near past tense; it means: ‘have come.’” - Joginder Singh Talwara, Gurbani Da Saral Viakaran Bodh, volume 2, page 669.
 tin̖  kiu  raiṇi  vihāṇī.6.  
āpe    kare    karāe  kartā   kis  no  ākhi  suṇāīai.  
dukhu  sukhu  terai  bhāṇai  hovai   kis  thai  jāi  rūāīai.  
hukmī  hukami  calāe  vigsai   nānak    likhiā  pāīai.7.12.  
-Guru  Granth  Sahib  417-418
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
Asa is a rag (musical mode) that traditionally evokes a feeling of hopefulness. It infuses this composition, which reflects on a moment of great violence and upheaval, with a sense of the unshakeable poise that Guru Nanak exhibits — and invites us to experience.

The four compositions by Guru Nanak conventionally referred to as Babarvani (Utterances on Babar), describe Babar’s (popular spelling is Babur) invasion of South Asia and overthrow of Lodhi’s regime, which founded the Mughal Empire. In these compositions, Guru Nanak documents the human suffering caused by the invasion and places it into the context of IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force).

In the third Babarvani composition, Guru Nanak says, This world is Yours. You are its Sovereign. Your command, after having established the beings, destroys them within a moment and divides their wealth among the siblings. In the aftermath of a battle between Babar’s Mughals and Ibrahim Lodhi’s Pathans, Guru Nanak rhetorically asks where the Pathans’ wealth and culture have gone, implying that they have disappeared suddenly. Their horses and stables, musical instruments, fine clothes, mirrors, and beautiful faces are nowhere to be seen.

This world is Yours. You are its Sovereign. Your command, after having established the beings, destroys them within a moment and divides their wealth among the siblings. The list that is begun in the first stanza continues in the second, with Guru Nanak asking where the Pathans’ imposing estates, comfortable beds, intoxicants, and harems have gone.

This world is Yours. You are its Sovereign. Your command, after having established the beings, destroys them within a moment and divides their wealth among the siblings. After taking stock of the treasures that have disappeared after the battle, Guru Nanak denounces extravagant wealth as spiritually distracting, ill-gotten, and temporary. When our precious things are stripped away from us, we may mourn the loss, but in fact, the wealth itself is responsible for our misfortune, leading us to obsess over temporary treasures rather than focusing our awareness on IkOankar. At the same time, Guru Nanak makes it clear that the Creator alone decides who will be led astray by wealth or any other vice. That the Creator is the cause of everything, whether it appears to us as good or bad, is the overarching theme of this composition and is voiced in the composition’s closing lines.

This world is Yours. You are its Sovereign. Your command, after having established the beings, destroys them within a moment and divides their wealth among the siblings. We cannot hope to assert control over our lives through superstitious practices, just as the spiritual leaders of the Pathans could not repel the attack of the Mughals with their purported supernatural abilities. Buildings burned, and princes died, despite the pirs (spiritual heads) attempts to blind the Mughal invaders with magic. Guru Nanak’s criticism of the pirs is an occasion for self-reflection: How do we approach our own spiritual tradition? Is it a kind of magic we use to impose our individual will? Or is it a path of surrender to the Divine Will?

This world is Yours. You are its Sovereign. Your command, after having established the beings, destroys them within a moment and divides their wealth among the siblings. Even the fighters themselves could not alter the outcome of the war. In a heated battle of swords, guns, and elephants, every death was determined by IkOankar. Even if we reject superstition and instead trust in our practical strengths and strategies to protect us, we are missing the truth: IkOankar is responsible for everything.

This world is Yours. You are its Sovereign. Your command, after having established the beings, destroys them within a moment and divides their wealth among the siblings. Guru Nanak moves beyond the battlefield to paint a larger picture of the human suffering caused by war by documenting the suffering of women. Regardless of religion or caste, many were raped and killed. Many who avoided the worst fates faced the pain of losing their husbands in battle.

This world is Yours. You are its Sovereign. Your command, after having established the beings, destroys them within a moment and divides their wealth among the siblings. Speaking for us, Guru Nanak asks rhetorically where we must address our pleas and cries, if not to the Creator. Everything happens according to the Creator’s Will. After taking us on tour through all the different places our attention may turn in the wake of tragedy, Guru Nanak closes the composition by inviting us to refocus our awareness on IkOankar. Wealth, superstition, physical might, clever schemes — in the end, none of these prevail. Only the Divine Will prevails. And so, if we find ourselves crying out in misery, we can at least cry out to the Creator.

Do we chase after worldly goods that lead us away from IkOankar? Do we indulge in superstition, trying to exert control over external events? Or do we instead focus our attention on the Creator, who is the cause of both joy and suffering? Do we continue to focus our attention on the Creator even when we lose our poise?
Tags