Lava

Guru Ramdas Sahib

Suhi is a rag (musical mode) of enthusiasm. It is associated with deep love and devotion and evokes feelings of reverential adoration. This rag creates a mood of love beyond romance—a longing to experience it and a delight in doing so.

The composition by Guru Ramdas, conventionally referred to as Lava (links or stages), graces us with the steps that a being needs to take to become one with the Being in the natural order of existence in the world. Guru Ramdas, as the seeker, identifies with the human-wife-bride-being, and intimately addresses IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One) as the Divine-Husband-Groom-Being. Lava guides the being on how to bring the Wisdom into their life and connect with the Light. Lava’s vocabulary and customs help the seeker journey from the physical into the metaphysical. The vocabulary also indicates that there is guidance for a family lifestyle. Hence, the Lava adaptation is also for a marriage between two beings in the world. Lav is also a verb; it means to link, connect, break from one thing, and join with the other. It can also refer to cutting, chiseling, or working away at something.

In the first stanza, we are being made aware that we need to break from our existing thought and living patterns and connect with a new one: a new pattern, a new way to connect with the Being. Guru Ramdas says, Through the first link with the Light, activities of participation in life have been affirmed; I lovingly surrender myself to the dearest Beautiful Being. The Guru invokes the word parvirti. To understand parvirti, we need to understand narvirti. In Indic systems, narvirti is that natural order where multiple streams in our consciousness are intuitively in bliss with the Beautiful Being. Parvirti is that natural order that recognizes that beings live in this world where numerous streams are constantly being born in their consciousness. The affirmation is that there is a natural order of existence operating in the world, or else the world would cease to exist if it was in a state of nothingness. The Guru says, be part of the creative reality of the world, live in the world, with a yearning to return to the Beautiful Being. With intense love, devotion, and vigor, willingly surrender to the Beautiful Being in this love-journey.

The Guru elaborates that to return to this natural order willingly, live a disciplined lifestyle with determination. Live in the Command, follow the Command with intense love, devotion, and vigor, and lovingly surrender to the Beautiful Being. In this love-journey, make the Utterances filled with infinite wisdom the center of your existence. These Utterances filled with infinite wisdom are beyond the many gods, religious texts, meditation retreats, and self-help publications. Love these Utterances filled with infinite wisdom, so they become firm within you and form the foundation of the principle. Transgression will gradually leave you when the principle becomes firm, and you will become principle-centered. Remember Nam, Identification with the Beautiful Being, and bring Nam into your awareness. Make Nam a remembrance, and make that remembrance firm within you. If the Utterances filled with infinite wisdom have not become firm within you, Nam cannot get firm either. Where does one get Nam? In Sikhi, it is from the Eternal Wisdom. The Eternal Wisdom shows the path and how to end transgressions. Adore and revere the Eternal Wisdom. What will we receive? An intuitive bliss. When Nam becomes sweet to the mind, you become fortunate. The mind feels the sweetness; it’s not just the tongue or the etorphine; it is the entire body. It is a daily connection; it is an intense feeling. The beginning of that first link to connect with the Beautiful Being has been created. It is the way, the discipline, and the lifestyle for the new wave to become part of that Ocean.

Similar is the journey of two beings coming together in the House of Guru Ramdas with the One as their center. There is some completeness in the coming together, for only the One is complete. Towards that journey, the couple needs to remember the original purpose of life, which they may have forgotten while wrestling with self-determined or world-driven goals. What do they need to do? They need to chisel themselves with the Utterances filled with infinite wisdom. The Utterances filled with infinite wisdom will tell them what a principled lifestyle is and what is not. They are to live a principled and disciplined lifestyle, be in love with the Utterances filled with infinite wisdom and make them firm. The Guru doesn’t elaborate on the social aspects of a worldly marriage. The question of roles, responsibilities, decisions, and the children to be had or not; are facets unique to the couple and the culture. The couple is urged to adhere to the principle and live in remembrance of Nam. Nam is abstract; it is hard to bring it into one’s life, so bring Nam as a remembrance in the mind. When forgotten, bring it back into awareness and remember it. When something enters one’s awareness and stays there, it is remembrance—revere the Eternal Wisdom, not personalities or deities who call themselves Satguru. The Eternal Wisdom shows them the apt way to eliminate transgressions. The age-old question is, “how does one get rid of sins?” The answer is in this stanza: make the Wisdom firm within. It is the Wisdom that makes one’s adherence to the principle stronger and helps live in remembrance. As remembrance becomes intuitive and Nam becomes sweet, the mind experiences the sweetness of love. It is not only the mind; it is in the entire body. It happens because there is a sweet continuous connection. This is what it means to be fortunate. The world has its definitions of who is fortunate. In the House of Guru Ramdas, those who experience the sweetness of Light in their minds are fortunate. The couple who accepts the natural order of existence in the world and is reciting the Utterances filled with infinite wisdom, living a Wisdom-centered lifestyle, remembering Nam, and revering the Eternal Wisdom is ready to begin their journey back to the Beautiful Being. The path to a beautiful, purposeful divine-centered relationship is created through the first link.

Are we willing to break with the existing pattern of our lives and link ourselves to a new pattern? A new pattern, a new lifestyle that yearns to return and become part of the Beautiful Being. The steps have been laid out. Are we willing to commit to the lifestyle needed to wed the Beautiful Being as shared by Guru Ramdas?