In this fifth stanza (
savaiya), Guru Arjan further illustrates the entrapment of
Maya, or the allure of transient things and relationships. This stanza encourages us to reflect honestly on our attachments, behaviors, and habits that keep us forgetful of
IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One). Guru Arjan lists various things people become attached to, none of which last. While some of the imagery is specific to his era, like horses, chariots, kings, warriors, forts, and flywhisks, these elements are present in the world today in different forms, like cars with high horsepower and modern forms of political and military power. Other things mentioned, like loving relationships, homes, and power, remain equally relevant in all eras. The exact things matter less than their common thread: they are sources of pride. Whether it was a chariot centuries ago or a luxury car today, the attachment to wealth and status remains the same. A king might have shown power through a throne and a flywhisk; now, leaders display it through media narratives, economic control, institutional access, and digital presence, but the motivation remains unchanged.
As these various attachments are laid out, Guru Arjan challenges us to see through the allure ourselves. He highlights how all of these things are transient, yet we remain engrossed, deriving pride from them. He reminds us that we will leave the world in an instant with none of what we’ve accumulated. Speaking to the people in our lives to whom we become attached, Guru Arjan says they leave quickly, just as the shadow cast by a tree shifts constantly. We see daily how people leave the world, and their physical presence in our lives comes to an end. He prompts us: Life is passing before our eyes—have we pondered this in our hearts? Are we really engaged in such forgetfulness, which leads us to act in lust, anger, greed, attachment, and pride, all for things which could vanish in an instant? We do these things, and then we dust off our hands like we didn’t do anything, and carry on until we act in forgetfulness again. If we had pondered that all material things are fleeting, if we had pondered our limited time here, we probably wouldn’t be acting in these ways.
By Guru Arjan’s grace, he offers us a way out of this illusory maze of attachment. The path is simple but requires constant diligence: remembering
Prabhu at every moment. Here, ‘Prabhu’ is used for IkOankar to highlight qualities of kindness to the downtrodden, beneficence to the poor, all-pervasiveness, and limitlessness. Prabhu is the only eternal One, and contemplation on Prabhu shifts our minds from the transient to the everlasting
. In this sense, remembrance of IkOankar in every moment becomes the true refuge, as noted in earlier stanzas. At the stanza’s end, Guru Arjan reframes our possessiveness, acknowledging IkOankar as the true Sovereign and Owner of all wealth and fortune. In a plea to IkOankar, he asks to be graced and welcomed into the refuge of the One—to see through the allure of transient things and relationships, and to cross the world-ocean, which cannot be crossed without Grace.
When we are lost in the dream of life, we chase lofty yet transient things. Guru Arjan reminds us how this allure of transience draws us in again and again; despite reminders, we continue to fall for it. In this forgetfulness of IkOankar, we remain trapped in a cycle of hypocrisy and conflict caused by attachment, pursuit, and pride in these things. This is the ‘rat-like mind’ from the previous stanza, which achieves nothing lasting. We may seek out beautiful houses and cars, but if we truly looked within, we would realize that neither these possessions nor the people we cling to will journey with us. Instead, they bring pain, distracting us from love, praise, and devotion to the kind, beneficent, all-pervasive IkOankar.
We must reflect on where these desires come from. Why do we feel compelled to chase them? This is an age-old, universal pattern—Guru Arjan wrote about this tendency centuries ago. The seed of ego, as mentioned in the previous stanza, sprouts and grows into attachment to transient things, a seed found in people across all cultures and eras. Everyone is susceptible to this allure, which draws us away from what truly matters. It does not matter how courageous or powerful a person is, or what possessions they have—the outcome of attachment is the same: wasted time and forgetfulness of IkOankar. In the refuge of praise, love, and devotion, the One who is kind to the downtrodden and beneficent to the poor shelters us from this allure, gracing us and making our lives fruitful.
Will we walk the path of consciously playing a role in the dream rather than getting caught up in it? Will we experience for ourselves that remembrance of IkOankar helps us overcome our attachments? Will we dwell in remembrance of the One who is kind and beneficent, the only One who lasts in the end?
