jih simrat gati pāīai tih bhaju re tai mīt.
kahu nānak sunu re manā aüdh ghaṭat hai nīt.10.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1426
Guru Teghbahadar Sahib reminds beings of the purpose of life, which is to remember and reflect on the virtues of IkOankar (the Divine). The saloks describe how life is wasted in the entanglements of familial and material attachments distracting from the purpose of life. They inspire seekers to search for deeper meaning beyond the attachment to family and temporary material things and develop a relationship with IkOankar. These saloks gently nudge seekers to live in awareness of IkOankar and see the entire world from that place of realization.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the tenth stanza, Guru Teghbahadar reminds us that we ought to remember the One who brings this movement to our lives, the one who brings us freedom. This is about the physical and the nonphysical coming together. In the previous stanzas, the word used for remembrance implied a physical singing or praise. Here, the Guru introduces a nonphysical remembrance and says, when you know that remembrance which brings this movement to your life, recite that, my friend! Age is diminishing every day!
There is an emphasis here on bringing together classical understandings of Nam (Identification), Simran (Remembrance), and bhajna (Singing praise). These are all coming together because it is through these things that we are able to get to freedom. This does not mean we must do each one or fight over which one “works the best.” The Guru does not want us to lose even a moment fighting over that. Every day, life is getting shorter. But there is a sense of a progression that is important here. The Guru began with the physical singing and then moved into remembrance. The singing is the preparation that gets us to the remembrance, but this shift does not happen on its own. Our hearts and our minds must be in it. We cannot sing praises mindlessly and expect a switch to go off that takes us into remembrance. We must do the work. We ought to choose what resonates with us, which pulls at our hearts and minds, and walks the path with it until we feel remembrance churning within.
There is an emphasis here on bringing together classical understandings of Nam (Identification), Simran (Remembrance), and bhajna (Singing praise). These are all coming together because it is through these things that we are able to get to freedom. This does not mean we must do each one or fight over which one “works the best.” The Guru does not want us to lose even a moment fighting over that. Every day, life is getting shorter. But there is a sense of a progression that is important here. The Guru began with the physical singing and then moved into remembrance. The singing is the preparation that gets us to the remembrance, but this shift does not happen on its own. Our hearts and our minds must be in it. We cannot sing praises mindlessly and expect a switch to go off that takes us into remembrance. We must do the work. We ought to choose what resonates with us, which pulls at our hearts and minds, and walks the path with it until we feel remembrance churning within.
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