kakai kes punḍar jab hūe viṇu sābūṇai ujliā.
jamrāje ke herū āe māiā kai saṅgali bandhi laïā.5.
-Guru Granth Sahib 432
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.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
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 fifth couplet, through the letter ਕ (‘kakkā,’ #6) Guru Nanak says that when old age arrived, the being’s ‘kes’ hair turned grey. It became bright white without the use of soap. The messengers of death, who watch over the time of each being’s departure, have come. They tie the being with the shackles of Maya (the attachment to transient things and relationships) and carry the being away. This couplet is about people and the reality of our own mortality. The Guru uses the popularly understood and stark poetic imagery of death coming to take us away at our time of departure to urge us into a realization that our time is short. We will be taken from here! It is inevitable. During our time here, we are already caged and entangled and thrown this way and that by Maya. We are constantly dealing with temporariness. But when we finally become physically old – when our mortality confronts us through tangible changes like our hair turning white, we might come to realize on a more experiential level that we have been wasting this time. Why do we wait till the end to reflect? Why do we only think about the way we have spent our time when it has almost run out? This is the foolishness of the mind that the Guru mentions in the Pause line. We leave this world anxious to face the accounts of our deeds. Will we reflect before our hair has turned white? Will we resolve our fear of death before death confronts us?
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