Sabads uttered in connection with Babur’s attack (Babarvani)

Guru Nanak Sahib

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?