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.
In the thirtieth stanza, Guru Teghbahadar says,
the mind of the being is trapped in material allurement, and the Nam of Gobind has been forgotten. Without praise of Hari, what use is this life?
Guru Teghbahadar says, when we are entangled in attachment, we forget
Gobind, the Earth-knowing One, an epithet for
IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One). We are without Remembrance and without praise. Guru Teghbahadar asks us what use life is without these things. This rhetorical question shakes us out of our dreaming or out of our entanglement. Guru Teghbahadar tells us that we are so immersed in attachment that we have forgotten the real objective of life. We have spent our time enjoying the flavors of attachment, sweet and satisfying, consuming us as we consume them. And because we are consumed by them, we do not feel the other sweet flavors—of praise and
Nam (Identification with IkOankar) and Remembrance. We only feel happy with our attachment to the temporary. We are so immersed in it that we do not understand that it only causes pain.
If we are not connected to
Hari, highlighting the all-pervasiveness of the One, we fall into attachment, and life fades away, useless. If we are connected to the all-pervasive One, we are able to avoid getting caught up in attachment and selfhood, and we spend this time well—we make good use of this life.
Are we trapped in material attachment? Have we forgotten Identification with the Earth-knowing One, the Creation-Force? Have we neglected to engage in praise of IkOankar? Are we making this gift of life a thing that is well-spent?
