paüṛī.
caturathi cāre bed suṇi sodhio tatu bīcāru.
sarab khem kaliāṇ nidhi rām nāmu japi sāru.
narak nivārai dukh harai tūṭahi anik kales.
mīcu huṭai jam te chuṭai hari kīrtan parves.
bhaü binsai ammritu rasai raṅgi rate niraṅkār.
dukh dārid apavitratā nāsahi nām adhār.
suri nar muni jan khojate sukh sāgar gopāl.
manu nirmalu mukhu ūjalā hoi nānak sādh ravāl.4.
-Guru Granth Sahib 297
Guru Arjan Sahib describes a being becoming wise and adept through Nam (Identification with IkOankar). All comforts and mind-desired fruits are received by dispelling pride and enshrining Nam in the consciousness. Corresponding to the fifteen-day lunar calendar and each pauri (stanza) correlates to each day formed by the waxing and waning of the moon. The fourth pauri describes how all sorrows and conflicts are destroyed through Nam and the company of virtuous beings; they realize the presence of IkOankar (the Divine).
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the fourth pauri (stanza), the Guru tells us that having listened to the four Vedas, the ultimate thought has been found. The treasure of all happiness and welfare is received through the remembrance of the Nam of the Beautiful Charming One. This is the essential reflection: Identification with the Beautiful creates comfort and removes us from the hells we dwell in, the suffering, pain, troubles, and conflicts that consume us. If the true glorification of the 1-Light, the Fear-Eliminator, happens within us, if the singing of praises enters us, our fear of death is finished. Our fear vanishes, and amrit is absorbed slowly. The word ‘amrit’ literally means beyond death and time. In the context of Guru Granth Sahib, it is used as a synonym for Nam (Identification with IkOankar, or 1Force). Amrit is also sometimes used as an adjective to describe the sweetness or pleasantness of a thing. This sweet immortalizing nectar is always available to us but rarely something that we seek. It is not a thing to physically get but a condition that happens, a process that is slow, a sweetness we can taste and savor. This is the amrit we are looking for, that imbues us in the color of love for the Formless One.
Sufferings and poverties, and impurities are destroyed through the support of Nam. Rather than seeking to rid ourselves of our worldly sufferings and conditions through transactional rituals and senses of auspiciousness or inauspiciousness tied to the lunar calendar, we ought to understand that these things can be destroyed through the constant and steady support of Identification with IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). The divine-natured beings, the sages, the wise ones, all search for the Earth-Nurturer, the Ocean of comforts, IkOankar. Even those beings we might go to for advice, pray to, or attach ourselves to in our spiritual journeys are looking for this relationship with the One, for this sweet immortalizing Identification with the One. Whoever our religious or spiritual heroes are in our current paradigms, they are all also looking for this. Why? Because when we become humble in the company of the virtuous beings, when we join this company, we are able to realize IkOankar. Our minds become filth-free, and our faces become radiant.
The Guru understands that we are all trying to figure out how to renounce our ego and attachment to the material world and temporary relationships. Many are able to do the latter, to renounce the world around them in their stubbornness. But pride is a harder thing to shake off. And if pride is still within, we have not truly been able to live in the kind of renunciation that matters. We will not be able to experience the gift of connection with IkOankar or rid ourselves of filth, pain, and internal impurities. We can bring humility within when we allow the singing of the 1-Light, the Fear-Eliminator, to enter our hearts, not just on our tongues, not just in our ears. When we praise the One within and drench ourselves in Identification with the One, our fears are eliminated, and all the fear-based systems and paradigms we were operating are no longer relevant. Our minds become filth-free. Our faces become radiant. This is how we become beautiful and wise and insightful. Will we make an effort toward inculcating praise, toward singing of the One? Will we allow that singing to enter us and make us humble in the company of the virtuous? Will we enjoy the slow sweet process of absorbing amrit? Will we savor these flavors?
Sufferings and poverties, and impurities are destroyed through the support of Nam. Rather than seeking to rid ourselves of our worldly sufferings and conditions through transactional rituals and senses of auspiciousness or inauspiciousness tied to the lunar calendar, we ought to understand that these things can be destroyed through the constant and steady support of Identification with IkOankar (One Universal Integrative Force, 1Force, the One). The divine-natured beings, the sages, the wise ones, all search for the Earth-Nurturer, the Ocean of comforts, IkOankar. Even those beings we might go to for advice, pray to, or attach ourselves to in our spiritual journeys are looking for this relationship with the One, for this sweet immortalizing Identification with the One. Whoever our religious or spiritual heroes are in our current paradigms, they are all also looking for this. Why? Because when we become humble in the company of the virtuous beings, when we join this company, we are able to realize IkOankar. Our minds become filth-free, and our faces become radiant.
The Guru understands that we are all trying to figure out how to renounce our ego and attachment to the material world and temporary relationships. Many are able to do the latter, to renounce the world around them in their stubbornness. But pride is a harder thing to shake off. And if pride is still within, we have not truly been able to live in the kind of renunciation that matters. We will not be able to experience the gift of connection with IkOankar or rid ourselves of filth, pain, and internal impurities. We can bring humility within when we allow the singing of the 1-Light, the Fear-Eliminator, to enter our hearts, not just on our tongues, not just in our ears. When we praise the One within and drench ourselves in Identification with the One, our fears are eliminated, and all the fear-based systems and paradigms we were operating are no longer relevant. Our minds become filth-free. Our faces become radiant. This is how we become beautiful and wise and insightful. Will we make an effort toward inculcating praise, toward singing of the One? Will we allow that singing to enter us and make us humble in the company of the virtuous? Will we enjoy the slow sweet process of absorbing amrit? Will we savor these flavors?
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