mailāgar saṅgeṇ nimmu birakh si candanah.
nikaṭi basanto bāṁso nānak ahaṅ budhi na bohate.5.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1360
Guru Arjan Sahib describes a flaw-riddled body and the futile nature of pride in material attachment to the physical world. The seeker is encouraged to connect with the eternal IkOankar (the Divine), who removes diseases, sorrows, and sufferings, making way for a fruitful life. The precious gift of Nam is received in the company of virtuous beings and makes the seekers’ lives fruitful. This saloks encourages seekers to welcome the company of virtuous beings to unite with the all-pervasive IkOankar and find eternal comfort and happiness.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the fifth salok, Guru Arjan discusses what happens with people at large through familiar symbols of trees: the sandalwood, the neem, and the bamboo. The Guru says that in the company of the fragrant sandalwood tree, even a bitter neem tree becomes fragrant like sandalwood. But, a bamboo tree in the company of sandalwood does not become fragrant because of its hardness and height. Bamboo trees have a coating that functions as a hard shell, a form of protection that does not allow the fragrance to enter. Those who are like bamboo trees are stubborn and arrogant, closed off to the fragrance of the virtuous ones. Even when they are surrounded by the fragrance of the virtuous ones, sitting in their company, they will not be changed by that presence without doing the work to remove their hard shells — their pride and stubbornness. We cannot become fragrant until we imbibe humility in the way that the neem tree is humble and able to take on the quality of sandalwood despite its own bitter or unpleasant fragrance.
We know from the first salok that there are many fragrances in the material world: camphor, flowers, and other things like sandalwood. We want to be fragrant, and so we cover ourselves in those external superficial fragrances that do not last very long. But the kind of fragrance the Guru talks about here, in the fifth salok, comes from within, that comes from the virtues we have cultivated through the company of those who are already fragrant in their thoughts and actions. The only way toward becoming fragrant is to become humble and open, remove our hard shells, and allow the company of the virtuous ones to change us from within. Will we remove that coating? Will we experience what it is like to be truly fragrant?
We know from the first salok that there are many fragrances in the material world: camphor, flowers, and other things like sandalwood. We want to be fragrant, and so we cover ourselves in those external superficial fragrances that do not last very long. But the kind of fragrance the Guru talks about here, in the fifth salok, comes from within, that comes from the virtues we have cultivated through the company of those who are already fragrant in their thoughts and actions. The only way toward becoming fragrant is to become humble and open, remove our hard shells, and allow the company of the virtuous ones to change us from within. Will we remove that coating? Will we experience what it is like to be truly fragrant?
