jag racnā sabh jhūṭh hai jāni lehu re mīt.
kahi nānak thiru nā rahai jiu bālū kī bhīti.49.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1428
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 forty-ninth stanza, Guru Teghbahadar says, O friend! Know this: that the entire creation of the world is transient. This world does not last forever; it collapses like a wall of sand.
The Guru emphasizes again that everything is perishable and transient. Nothing remains here. It all collapses like a wall of sand. It crumbles quickly; it erodes with each wave. We might think that our lives are these long things; some even say that life is too long. But in the age of the earth, it is nothing. In the age of the universe, the multiverse, even the life of the earth is nothing. This is a beautiful way to explain something to a seeker. There is a softness in the Guru addressing us as ‘friend’ again; there is a gentleness in telling us that all things will go, that they crumble quickly, and asking us or requesting us to know this to be true. This is a request of the seeker, not everyone else. This is about those who need to come to this on their own, who need to consider this and acknowledge this as the eternal truth: that the world is transient, like a wall of sand.
We are so afraid of losing, and it causes us pain. We lose sleep over it. But if we understand that the world is like a wall of sand, if we think about children who build sandcastles just to knock them down or just watch the waves take them away, we can understand that kind of carefree living the Guru is referring to. Can we get to a state where we are not afraid to lose the castle?
The Guru emphasizes again that everything is perishable and transient. Nothing remains here. It all collapses like a wall of sand. It crumbles quickly; it erodes with each wave. We might think that our lives are these long things; some even say that life is too long. But in the age of the earth, it is nothing. In the age of the universe, the multiverse, even the life of the earth is nothing. This is a beautiful way to explain something to a seeker. There is a softness in the Guru addressing us as ‘friend’ again; there is a gentleness in telling us that all things will go, that they crumble quickly, and asking us or requesting us to know this to be true. This is a request of the seeker, not everyone else. This is about those who need to come to this on their own, who need to consider this and acknowledge this as the eternal truth: that the world is transient, like a wall of sand.
We are so afraid of losing, and it causes us pain. We lose sleep over it. But if we understand that the world is like a wall of sand, if we think about children who build sandcastles just to knock them down or just watch the waves take them away, we can understand that kind of carefree living the Guru is referring to. Can we get to a state where we are not afraid to lose the castle?
