ikoaṅkār satigur prasādi.
dhanāsarī mahalā 9.
kāhe re ban khojan jāī.
sarab nivāsī sadā alepā tohī saṅgi samāī.1. rahāu.
puhap madhi jiu bāsu basatu hai mukar māhi jaise chāī.
taise hī hari base nirantari ghaṭ hī khojahu bhāī.1.
bāhari bhītari eko jānahu ihu gur giānu batāī.
jan nānak binu āpā cīnai miṭai na bhram kī kāī.2.1.
-Guru Granth Sahib 684
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib describes the fragrance of a flower and the reflection in a mirror to illustrate that IkOankar (the Divine) dwells in all beings. Thus, individuals need not look externally to find IkOankar; instead, they can look within themselves, through the Wisdom (Guru), to connect with IkOankar. This Sabad reminds seekers of the all-pervasiveness of IkOankar.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
Dhanasari is a rag (musical mode) used to create a mood of happiness or cheerfulness.
In the first composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, O sibling! What do you go to the forests to search for? The One who dwells in all, the ever-detached 1-Light, is merged with you. In classical Hindu and many other South Asian conceptions of the four stages of life, the fourth stage was when a person was meant to detach from society and leave the world to attain some kind of liberation upon death eventually. The Guru addresses this classical element in all of us, the need for escapism and detachment from the world and all of its goings-on. We often feel that the only way to find the inner peace, connection, or comfort we are searching for is by separating ourselves from what it means to be in the world. We may go to a mountain or a forest, we may attend wellness retreats or do some kind of ‘cleanse.’ But we always have to come back, don’t we? So how do we find what we are looking for when we are in the world? The Guru tells us that what we are looking for, our idea of the Divine or God or Consciousness, whatever else we may be looking for, is not found in these remote places. The One we are looking for is everywhere, in all. The idea of sacred spaces is being questioned here — there is no place more sacred than another. We are sacred, so why not go within? There is no outside place we can go to that will give us this discovery!
O sibling! What do you go to the forests to search for? The Guru then brings in two metaphors to help us understand this constant dwelling of the 1-Light within. The Guru says that just as the fragrance resides in the flower and the reflection resides in the mirror, the 1-Light constantly dwells in the heart. Even if we cannot smell the fragrance, even if we cannot see the reflection, these things reside in the home of the flower and the mirror, respectively. We ought to search for the 1-Light only within the heart, the self. How do we go inwards to do this? It is an active process, one which the Guru sympathetically urges us towards.
O sibling! What do you go to the forests to search for? The Guru says that within us and without us, inside and out, we ought to recognize and acknowledge only the One. This is the Wisdom of the Guru, what the Guru illustrates for us. And it is this statement that creates a kind of conviction out of something, marking this statement as the Guru’s knowledge, the Word’s Wisdom. The Guru is making a non-individualistic and non-philosophical statement, the Guru is invoking a particular experience — the experience of acknowledging and knowing the One both within and without. The Guru then invokes the status of a votary or a devotee or a servant to state that one ought to recognize oneself, grasp the self, and fully know it. If this recognition does not happen, the mind cannot be satisfied, the scum of illusion cannot be removed, and doubt will continue to exist.
When we understand that the fragrance is inseparable from the flower, we will stop searching outside of ourselves for the One. When we understand who we are within and our small selves’ relationship with the larger Self, IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), we will rid ourselves of doubts and foster companionship with the 1-Light. Will we go internally and begin our search within the heart?
In the first composition, Guru Teghbahadar says, O sibling! What do you go to the forests to search for? The One who dwells in all, the ever-detached 1-Light, is merged with you. In classical Hindu and many other South Asian conceptions of the four stages of life, the fourth stage was when a person was meant to detach from society and leave the world to attain some kind of liberation upon death eventually. The Guru addresses this classical element in all of us, the need for escapism and detachment from the world and all of its goings-on. We often feel that the only way to find the inner peace, connection, or comfort we are searching for is by separating ourselves from what it means to be in the world. We may go to a mountain or a forest, we may attend wellness retreats or do some kind of ‘cleanse.’ But we always have to come back, don’t we? So how do we find what we are looking for when we are in the world? The Guru tells us that what we are looking for, our idea of the Divine or God or Consciousness, whatever else we may be looking for, is not found in these remote places. The One we are looking for is everywhere, in all. The idea of sacred spaces is being questioned here — there is no place more sacred than another. We are sacred, so why not go within? There is no outside place we can go to that will give us this discovery!
O sibling! What do you go to the forests to search for? The Guru then brings in two metaphors to help us understand this constant dwelling of the 1-Light within. The Guru says that just as the fragrance resides in the flower and the reflection resides in the mirror, the 1-Light constantly dwells in the heart. Even if we cannot smell the fragrance, even if we cannot see the reflection, these things reside in the home of the flower and the mirror, respectively. We ought to search for the 1-Light only within the heart, the self. How do we go inwards to do this? It is an active process, one which the Guru sympathetically urges us towards.
O sibling! What do you go to the forests to search for? The Guru says that within us and without us, inside and out, we ought to recognize and acknowledge only the One. This is the Wisdom of the Guru, what the Guru illustrates for us. And it is this statement that creates a kind of conviction out of something, marking this statement as the Guru’s knowledge, the Word’s Wisdom. The Guru is making a non-individualistic and non-philosophical statement, the Guru is invoking a particular experience — the experience of acknowledging and knowing the One both within and without. The Guru then invokes the status of a votary or a devotee or a servant to state that one ought to recognize oneself, grasp the self, and fully know it. If this recognition does not happen, the mind cannot be satisfied, the scum of illusion cannot be removed, and doubt will continue to exist.
When we understand that the fragrance is inseparable from the flower, we will stop searching outside of ourselves for the One. When we understand who we are within and our small selves’ relationship with the larger Self, IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One), we will rid ourselves of doubts and foster companionship with the 1-Light. Will we go internally and begin our search within the heart?
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