tatai tāmasi jaliohu mūṛe thathai thān bharisṭu hoā.
ghaghai ghari ghari phirahi tūṁ mūṛe dadai dānu na tudhu laïā.9.
-Guru Granth Sahib 435
The Patti by Guru Amardas Sahib comprises eighteen stanzas (couplets), each containing two lines. The first stanza is followed by the rahau, which informs that the study of mere worldly accounting and writing systems is futile unless they help the being to introspect about their deeds in life. The remaining stanzas are addressed to the Pandit, the teacher, and it is stated: O foolish Pandit, you never remember IkOankar. You will regret wasting your life when you depart from this world. You are not on the path and are also leading your students astray. Though you read religious texts, you do not put them into practice. You are consumed by material attachment. This life is an opportunity to connect with the all-pervading IkOankar, but you live in ignorance. Whereas those who connect with the Wisdom (Guru) and sing praises of IkOankar settle all their accounts and are honored in the court of IkOankar.
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Guru Amardas continues and expands on our attachment to Maya (the allure of transient things and relationships), O mind! What kind of account have you studied that giving the account of your deeds has remained hanging over your head? Delivering the message through the letter ਤ (‘tattā,’ #21) and ਥ (‘thatthā,’ #22), the ones who impart the learning and the learners are invited to reflect on the thoughts and actions ruling our lives. We are like a bee fully immersed in honey, with our wings sticky from it, too. Consumed by material desires and temptations, we find ourselves trapped in the honey of Maya. Like the drenched honeybee can no longer fly, neither can we break free. The fickle mind traps us, and we jump from one desire to another. In ignorance, we continue to replicate loops of systemic behaviors we are conditioned to and get caught in them repeatedly. This pattern makes chasing desires our only purpose, shredding our consciousness. We are reminded that instead of wandering from one desire to the next, one donation to the next, one investment to the next, one degree to the next, we ought to turn to the true gift, the gift of Nam (Identification with IkOankar) for only its grace can extinguish the fire of restless desires. Can we find solace in yearning for Identification? Can we make small our material desires while growing our desire for connection?
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