dhadhai dhāvat varaji rakhu mūṛe antari terai nidhānu païā.
gurmukhi hovahi tā hari rasu pīvahi jugā jugantari khāhi païā.14.
-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.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
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 ਧ (‘dhaddhā,’ #24), Guru Amardas mentors a lesson to the learned and interpretively to the learner. Unlike the never-ending desires, the essence of Hari (1-Light), synonymous with IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One), is timeless. The treasure of IkOankar is abundant, eternal, and for everyone. The peace, harmony, and stability we continually seek come from the fountain of Hari, not Maya (the allure of transient things and relationships). Physical and mental wandering is not required to discover, feel, and be loved by Hari. When we become Wisdom-oriented, we experience the virtues of 1-Light and receive the ever-lasting comfort of the Wisdom (Guru). In different costumes, we pursue different desires from continent to continent, shop to shop, relationship to relationship, commodity to commodity, but harmony remains elusive. We learn to validate and justify our wants and desires and, in the process, only fill a void created by duality. We can allow our ignorance to fool us and spend a lifetime wandering, but the treasure we searched for was always within, is within, and will always be within. The rivulet of bliss flows within us as we become Wisdom-oriented. If we genuinely wish to end the chase, perhaps it is time to wear the eternal costume. The question is, what does life beyond a costume of material allurement look like for us?
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