basantu mahalā 9.
man kahā bisārio rām nāmu.
tanu binsai jam siu parai kāmu.1. rahāu.
ihu jagu dhūe kā pahār.
tai sācā māniā kih bicāri.1.
dhanu dārā sampati greh.
kachu saṅgi na cālai samajh leh.2.
ik bhagati nārāin hoi saṅgi.
kahu nānak bhaju tih ek raṅgi.3.4.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1186-1187
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib highlights the impermanent world by questioning the person who forgets IkOankar (the Divine). the mind is awakened from the slumber of ignorance and realizes the love of IkOankar through Nam (Identification with IkOankar).
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the fourth composition, Guru Teghbahadar addresses the mind and says, O mind! Why have you forgotten the Identification of the Beautiful? When the body perishes, one has dealings with death. The Guru reminds us that these bodies are temporary and that all of us will have to deal with death at some point. So knowing this, why are we living in forgetfulness of the one thing that is Eternal, IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One)? Why have we not been spending this fleeting life in these fleeting bodies in Remembrance of the Beautiful and Identification of the Beautiful?
O mind! Why have you forgotten the Identification of the Beautiful? The Guru continues to emphasize the temporariness of all things, this time calling the world a mountain of smoke. It may seem big and sturdy and lasting from far away, but as the picture starts to get clearer, one finds that the mountain of smoke is not a mountain at all and disappears in no time. This is the illusory eternality that we assign to our bodies and the world around us.
O mind! Why have you forgotten the Identification of the Beautiful? Whatever wealth or spouse or property, or home we have will not go with us when we go. We think that these things are permanent or that they are lasting parts of our legacies. And so we spend all of our time and efforts building up our wealth, accumulating property, creating our families, and hoping that when we go, this is what will last. But these things will not come with us when we go, and they will not last long after we have gone.
O mind! Why have you forgotten the Identification of the Beautiful? The devotion of the one Steady One is the only thing that remains with us. This is the only devotion that will be with us in the end. So we ought to sing praises of That One, in the love of That One, to live in Remembrance knowing that we are rooting ourselves in the Eternal and the Constant and the Steady.
Creation lasts much longer than us, but even creation is not eternal, and this is the state of mind we have once we have arrived at the spring of our hearts when we have bloomed. We question the mind, asking why we have forgotten the Identification of the One if we have known that everything else is temporary. Why are we being lazy and careless about Remembrance when we know that these bodies will not last forever and death is coming? The only things that will help us are Identification and loving devotion to the One. There is the world that IkOankar has created and the world we have created. The world we have constructed in our minds is not the true world but a place where we have insisted that temporary things will last forever. We keep living in the world we have created, refusing to figure out how to live in the world IkOankar has created. It is not that these worldly relationships and responsibilities and duties are not important, but they are not everything, and they are not what we ought to be attached to. Spring comes when we are in Remembrance, in love, and in devotion to the One. Spring comes when our understanding shifts and our behaviors follow suit. Will we bloom in Remembrance? Will we Identify with the Beautiful?
O mind! Why have you forgotten the Identification of the Beautiful? The Guru continues to emphasize the temporariness of all things, this time calling the world a mountain of smoke. It may seem big and sturdy and lasting from far away, but as the picture starts to get clearer, one finds that the mountain of smoke is not a mountain at all and disappears in no time. This is the illusory eternality that we assign to our bodies and the world around us.
O mind! Why have you forgotten the Identification of the Beautiful? Whatever wealth or spouse or property, or home we have will not go with us when we go. We think that these things are permanent or that they are lasting parts of our legacies. And so we spend all of our time and efforts building up our wealth, accumulating property, creating our families, and hoping that when we go, this is what will last. But these things will not come with us when we go, and they will not last long after we have gone.
O mind! Why have you forgotten the Identification of the Beautiful? The devotion of the one Steady One is the only thing that remains with us. This is the only devotion that will be with us in the end. So we ought to sing praises of That One, in the love of That One, to live in Remembrance knowing that we are rooting ourselves in the Eternal and the Constant and the Steady.
Creation lasts much longer than us, but even creation is not eternal, and this is the state of mind we have once we have arrived at the spring of our hearts when we have bloomed. We question the mind, asking why we have forgotten the Identification of the One if we have known that everything else is temporary. Why are we being lazy and careless about Remembrance when we know that these bodies will not last forever and death is coming? The only things that will help us are Identification and loving devotion to the One. There is the world that IkOankar has created and the world we have created. The world we have constructed in our minds is not the true world but a place where we have insisted that temporary things will last forever. We keep living in the world we have created, refusing to figure out how to live in the world IkOankar has created. It is not that these worldly relationships and responsibilities and duties are not important, but they are not everything, and they are not what we ought to be attached to. Spring comes when we are in Remembrance, in love, and in devotion to the One. Spring comes when our understanding shifts and our behaviors follow suit. Will we bloom in Remembrance? Will we Identify with the Beautiful?
Tags
