Din Raini

Guru Arjan Sahib

Revealed by Guru Arjan Sahib and composed in Rag (musical mode) Majh, this composition of four stanzas comes under the title Din Raini. This title means “day and night,” and as such is linked to an awareness of time; accordingly, the content is suggestive of how we ought to spend the time we have—what our days and nights ought to look like. Rag Majh evokes an emotional atmosphere in which the pain of separation from IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One) is felt. This pain is of a softer tone, not invoking desperation and anxiety, but bringing about a loving sense of longing, ache, and yearning. This emotional tone of Rag Majh pairs with the metaphor invoked in this composition, and is present throughout the Guru Granth Sahib, wherein a seeker is likened to a wife longing for union with her Husband, IkOankar. This metaphor, despite being based on a very typical archetype of womanhood, is relevant to the condition of all seekers equally, regardless of their reproductive anatomy, gender expression, and sexuality. In this way, the atmosphere of this composition invites the tender and sensitive aspects of femininity inherent within all people to surface, no matter who we are, as we come to feel heartfelt yearning for IkOankar. This longing is part of our journey as seekers, ultimately strengthening and drawing us further into our relationship with IkOankar wherein we experience protection, security, and love with the Husband. It is how we come to realize how we ought to be spending our days and nights. Guru Arjan shows us what it feels like to long for union with IkOankar, what path to take to experience that union, and what the essence of that union really is. When we become rooted in that union, our days and nights are fruitful beyond the acquisition of any worldly experience, item, person, or comfort.

The creative and all-pervasive IkOankar is One that is unparalleled. IkOankar is realized through the grace of the eternal Wisdom (Guru). The composition commences with an invitation, a grounding reminder, perhaps even a call to action, urging seekers to center the One in their remembrance. We are reminded that through the Wisdom-Guru we are graced, allowing us to connect with IkOankar.

This composition is astutely understood as a sharing of wisdom between two feminine beings, one wiser and one desiring to learn. The tone here is not the revelation of teachings nor a “sermon,” but an experienced sister sharing the flavors of love and union with IkOankar, so that her beloved sister-seeker may come to experience those flavors herself. Guru Arjan, in the element of the wiser, experienced feminine being, begins with statements of longing rooted in connection with Hari, a name for IkOankar that emphasizes the One’s all-pervasiveness. Guru Arjan’s longing is to continue to serve the Satguru, the eternal Wisdom, and to remember the all-pervasive One day and night. His longing is to remain in the refuge of IkOankar, which one enters only by having renounced their self-serving and self-oriented tendencies. Speaking sweet, loving words of IkOankar, internally and externally, is central to this way of being in service, remembrance, and self-renunciation. Guru Arjan’s love and longing are born from the recognition that he had been separated for so many lifetimes, and that he was ready to be united with IkOankar, his dear friend and relative. Guru Arjan addresses his beloved sister-seeker using the word bhain, meaning sister, saying that life in separation from the all-pervasive One is not livable; there is neither joy nor comfort without union. The bhain represents those who want to be united but are not feeling it yet; it can also connote addressing the body in an affectionate manner, as the body longs to be in union as well. Guru Arjan further shares with the sister-seeker that without IkOankar, without the Husband, there is no ease in life—the being is neither at peace nor centered. Guru Arjan came to this understanding by looking in all places and finding contentment nowhere but in union. While contentment resides in union, Guru Arjan says that it’s the beings’ actions that keep them in separation. Guru Arjan states that his separation is the result of his own actions and that no one else can be blamed or faulted for it.

In the ending lines, the stanza comes to a close with a heartfelt plea to IkOankar, the all-pervasive One. Guru Arjan calls out to that One, asking to be graced and taken into the sanctuary of IkOankar, here referred to as Prabhu. This plea to IkOankar is rooted in Guru Arjan’s recognition of IkOankar as the Sovereign, the Cause of causes, and all-powerful. He says life without union is akin to rolling in the dirt—painful and intolerable—and there is no one else to call out to but that Sovereign. The final plea of Guru Arjan comes through invoking the name of Guru Nanak, in a sense identifying with his Guru. He asks to be graced such that he may see the presence of the all-pervasive One through his very eyes.

Guru Arjan is speaking to us here, his feminine sister-seekers who yearn to experience union with IkOankar as Guru Arjan experienced union with IkOankar. Guru Arjan shares with us the flavors of true love, longing, and yearning. What do we glean from this dialogue, from this heartfelt sharing of Guru Arjan’s? In the first few lines, we hear about the earnest desire a true lover has to serve IkOankar, to be in remembrance of IkOankar, and to be in the refuge of IkOankar. We learn that somebody truly in love, such as Guru Arjan, longs to have the praise of IkOankar on their lips at all times—those truly in love experience this praise as a never-ending sweetness oozing from within. We’re able to envision the inner world of a lover a little more clearly here: they long to be immersed in the One in any way possible. They plead that their mind not leave the One, that they serve the One through remembrance, and that their mouth not utter anything but loving praise. This is to leave conceptions of self behind, to renounce one’s ego, self-centeredness, and arrogance, as love of IkOankar comes to fill the mind in the absence of self-absorption. This is what it means to be in the refuge of IkOankar, as IkOankar’s love nourishes us from within. This is what it means to step into union after countless lifetimes of separation and forgetfulness of our dearest friend and relative, IkOankar.

Guru Arjan repeatedly emphasizes to us, his feminine sister-seekers, that life without union with the all-pervasive One is full of discomfort and pain. It is intolerable. In fact, it is akin to writhing in the dirt. After searching near and far and seeing all the spaces, Guru Arjan came to this understanding. Do we relate to the feeling of writhing in the dirt? Perhaps we’ve felt so broken down that we can’t imagine a way to move forward. Guru Arjan is invoking our lived experience here. In whichever ways we have felt like we’ve writhed and struggled in our lives, Guru Arjan is talking about that, and telling us there is something much greater we can experience through union with IkOankar. Reflecting on Guru Arjan’s sentiment that all separation is due to our own actions, we can develop greater awareness of our own habits, choices, and ways of being that increase our separation from IkOankar. These actions, which create separation, may not be what we typically conceive of as transgressions, such as anger, greed, jealousy, or lust; it could just be that our lives lack the service, remembrance, and praise that Guru Arjan knows to be central to union. No matter what our actions are, Guru Arjan makes it clear that there is no one else to call out to but the all-powerful, all-pervasive One to help us through our separation. By seeking Grace and taking deliberate steps towards unity, we can come to experience true contentment. We can enter the sanctuary of the One. As the One is all-pervasive, we really are already in the sanctuary of the One; we just don’t see it, we don’t feel it, we are stuck in our forgetfulness and actions that cause separation. To truly see the One, we ought to ask that One to bestow Grace such that we may see the One through our very eyes and come to feel the immanence of the One pervading everywhere.

Will we listen to Guru Arjan’s experience as we would listen to a beloved sister sharing her heartfelt experience of love with us? Will we come to develop a love for IkOankar as Guru Arjan has? Will we serve, remember, and utter sweet praise of IkOankar?