budhvāri budhi karai pragās.
hirdai kamal mahi hari kā bās.
gur mili doū ek sam dharai.
uradh paṅk lai sūdhā karai.4.
-Guru Granth Sahib 344
This composition is based on the seven days of the week. The days of the week are often associated with the notions of good and bad. However, Bhagat Kabir Ji encourages us to focus on connecting with the Nam of IkOankar (the Divine) rather than believing in such notions. He imparts a distinct teaching for each day of the week. The message through Sunday is to practice devotion. Through Monday is to partake Nam from the Wisdom (Guru). Through Tuesday is to understand the true nature of the vices. Through Wednesday is to develop intellect within. Through Thursday is to rid our minds of the overpowering influence of Maya. Through Friday is to remain unaffected by the pride and prestige gained through good deeds. Finally, the message through Saturday is to keep one’s wandering mind steady and stable.
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
If one sings the virtues of the 1-Light again and again, having approached the Wisdom (Guru), that being finds the secret of the 1-Light. In the fourth stanza, through Wednesday, Bhagat Kabir says a seeker ought to illuminate the intellect within themselves, within their own heart. We can develop this higher intellect or understanding through a relationship with the Wisdom. When we illuminate this wisdom within ourselves, ignorance is converted into enlightenment, and that is when we know how to live. The mind bereft of wisdom and intellect wanders, but that mind that has been illuminated has a new understanding and is steady. When the intellect is illuminated, we realize that the 1-Light, IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One) dwells within our lotus-hearts. Through the Wisdom and the understanding it brings, we realize the presence of the One within us, that there is no difference between IkOankar and the seeker, that many things are one and the same—happiness and sorrow, good and bad, all binaries. Whatever created duality and polarity for us before no longer does.
Bhagat Kabir says that this is how we ought to set our inverted lotus-hearts upright, by focusing our disoriented and wandering minds on IkOankar. The lotus is another important symbol used by Yogis in philosophical and abstract ways to discuss purity, spiritual enlightenment, and rebirth. But Bhagat Kabir reframes this and says that the lotus in the mud is still growing, that it is natural for the lotus to be in the mud, and that it is also natural for the lotus bud, before it begins to bloom, to be upside down or inverted. When it blossoms, the bud turns upright. What does it mean for these lotus-hearts or lotus-minds to be inverted and then upright? We overcome hardship and obstacles, and our natural state of existence changes when we are more illuminated. The things that change are our perspective and our understanding. When these minds bloom, they might look at first glance like they are not or are turned the wrong way. But when the struggling mind connects with the Wisdom, its orientation changes and blossoms beautifully. The blossom no longer touches the dirt but is still in the water—our feet are on earth and in the mud! We are in this life, and we can continue to be in this life without being touched by these earthly poisons as we are blossoming, connected, and alive if we illuminate this higher intellect within. Will we illuminate ourselves from within through the Wisdom? Will we experience a change in perspective, a new orientation?
Bhagat Kabir says that this is how we ought to set our inverted lotus-hearts upright, by focusing our disoriented and wandering minds on IkOankar. The lotus is another important symbol used by Yogis in philosophical and abstract ways to discuss purity, spiritual enlightenment, and rebirth. But Bhagat Kabir reframes this and says that the lotus in the mud is still growing, that it is natural for the lotus to be in the mud, and that it is also natural for the lotus bud, before it begins to bloom, to be upside down or inverted. When it blossoms, the bud turns upright. What does it mean for these lotus-hearts or lotus-minds to be inverted and then upright? We overcome hardship and obstacles, and our natural state of existence changes when we are more illuminated. The things that change are our perspective and our understanding. When these minds bloom, they might look at first glance like they are not or are turned the wrong way. But when the struggling mind connects with the Wisdom, its orientation changes and blossoms beautifully. The blossom no longer touches the dirt but is still in the water—our feet are on earth and in the mud! We are in this life, and we can continue to be in this life without being touched by these earthly poisons as we are blossoming, connected, and alive if we illuminate this higher intellect within. Will we illuminate ourselves from within through the Wisdom? Will we experience a change in perspective, a new orientation?
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