thāvar thiru kari rākhai soi.
joti dīvaṭī ghaṭ mahi joi.
bāhari bhītari bhaïā pragāsu.
tab hūā sagal karam kā nāsu.7.
-Guru Granth Sahib 344-345
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 seventh stanza, through Saturday, Bhagat Kabir says that only that seeker can keep the consciousness steady, who, through the Wisdom (Guru), sees and experiences the presence of IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One) in their heart. Saturday is a day associated with the planet Saturn, which, due to its being so far away, people associated with slowness, thinking the planet was not moving at all. Along that line, Bhagat Kabir shows us that we are not after stopping the mind but ought to see how the mind is moving. If the mind is running, do we want it to slow down? How do we do that? By bringing more wisdom within us instead of seeking it outside of ourselves.
When we do that and experience the presence of the One as a result and feel the One pervading everywhere, we are illuminated from within and without. Our illumination becomes evident in our deeds and moving through the world. This is how all the previous baggage of our previous deeds is erased. Just as the planet Saturn seemed immovable and fixed, the larger understanding of deeds and ‘karma’ in Bhagat Kabir’s context was that these deeds and their consequences were unchanging, unmoving, and constant. The Bhagat’s disruption to this belief is that if we can illuminate ourselves from within, shift our understanding, and shift our behavior through the Wisdom, we can keep our minds steady and wash ourselves of our previous deeds without focusing on or fixating on rituals and cleansing and atoning. This is how we get out of the games of rituals and karmic systems and free ourselves from fear in favor of devotion to IkOankar. Will we light that lamp-wick of wisdom within? Will we experience the All-Pervasive pervading us?
When we do that and experience the presence of the One as a result and feel the One pervading everywhere, we are illuminated from within and without. Our illumination becomes evident in our deeds and moving through the world. This is how all the previous baggage of our previous deeds is erased. Just as the planet Saturn seemed immovable and fixed, the larger understanding of deeds and ‘karma’ in Bhagat Kabir’s context was that these deeds and their consequences were unchanging, unmoving, and constant. The Bhagat’s disruption to this belief is that if we can illuminate ourselves from within, shift our understanding, and shift our behavior through the Wisdom, we can keep our minds steady and wash ourselves of our previous deeds without focusing on or fixating on rituals and cleansing and atoning. This is how we get out of the games of rituals and karmic systems and free ourselves from fear in favor of devotion to IkOankar. Will we light that lamp-wick of wisdom within? Will we experience the All-Pervasive pervading us?
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