The Patti composition revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib consists of thirty-five stanzas, each containing two lines. This composition is based on the thirty-five letters of the alphabet prevalent at that time. In this composition the Guru has established a foundational system based on letters. In the
rahau line, by addressing his own mind, the Guru provides insights, saying, “O fool! Why do you remain forgetful? You will be considered truly educated only when you are able to settle the account of your deeds in IkOankar’s (the Divine) court.” The Guru goes on to explain the mystery of the letters, enlightening that the limits of IkOankar, the Creator, cannot be known. All beings are under IkOankar’s command, and no one else can exercise authority over them. All-pervading IkOankar is the cause of everything in the creation. An arrogant being who forgets IkOankar and is engrossed in worldly matters continues to suffer. However, if a being recognizes the eternal IkOankar through the Wisdom (Guru), they are freed from suffering. The being who understands the mystery explained through these thirty-five letters becomes one with IkOankar.
O mind! Why do you forget, O foolish mind? You will be considered learned only when you give the account of your deeds, O sibling! In the thirty-fifth couplet, Guru Nanak delivers a message through the letter ਅ (‘āiṛā,’ #2) and says, the 1-Light, who has Own-Self created the universe, is doing all that must be done for the beings according to Own-Self’s will. The word the Guru emphasizes here is
‘āpi,’ popularly,
‘aap,’ meaning Own-Self.
IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force the One) is doing everything! There is no one else responsible for all that happens in creation! The 1-Light is all-capable, pervading in all beings, is the Doer and the Cause, causes the beings to do, and knows each and every heart. The emphasis here is on the idea of Own-Self. There is nothing other than the One operating in creation. There is nothing other than the One doing and causing. Can we even fathom such a thing? The
Guru finishes the couplet by using the signature of a poet:
shair (popularly
shayar)
. The word
shair refers not just to the one who constructs poetic statements but also to the one who
knows or has
figured it out. This is one last lesson for us: the one who truly understands is not the one who talks and explains through logic or intellectual argument, who philosophizes until they cannot anymore. The one who knows is the poet, who communicates in feeling, in experience, in emotion. If we want to become truly learned, what
experiences of these learnings are we having? What
emotional understandings are we coming to, that are beyond explanation?
SUMMARY
In this composition by Guru Nanak, the wisdom behind each letter of the alphabet is revealed in over thirty-five couplets. The Guru begins by addressing the mind: “O fool! Why do you remain forgetful? You will be considered truly educated only when you are able to settle the account of your deeds in IkOankar’s court.” The mystery of the letters is revealed, exploring the tension between becoming truly learned and knowing IkOankar while also accepting that IkOankar cannot be fully known. The Guru moves back and forth between inexplicable truths about the One and guidance on what we can do to internalize these truths. We are urged to serve the One and engage in remembrance, contemplation, praise, and Identification with that unknowable One. We are urged to emotionally and experientially understand the vastness, sovereignty, and care of the One. Whatever our texts, schools of thought, learnings, instructions, or sermons, they all use letters. Language and letters hold culture and understanding – they are the things that help us navigate and make sense of the world – through vocabulary and text, we build an understanding of the world around us. We develop knowledges through them. But in
these letters, the
Guru explores the
real wisdom, the
real learning that cannot be known through science, philosophy, psychology, sociology, or religion. We are asked to interrogate who the true learned one is, and who that can be if it is also true that only the One knows everything. What is our work then? It is to cultivate a relationship with that One. To know that One emotionally, to devote to that One and serve that One, to move beyond going through the motions to a real understanding that cannot be explained. Will we pursue this kind of knowledge? Will we pursue this kind of learning? Will we live this learning out in the world?
