Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa, Vahiguru ji ki Fatih!

Nestled in the Guru Granth Sahib are 57 saloks (couplets) of Guru Teghbahadar Sahib recorded under the title ‘Salok Varan Te Vadik,’ from pages 1426 to 1429. In present vocabulary, these saloks are also referred to as ‘Bhog De Salok’ (concluding saloks), as they are followed by ‘Mundavani Mahala 9’ and ‘Ragmala,’ which complete the Guru Granth Sahib.

In the thirty-sixth couplet, Guru Teghbahadar Sahib says, you did not do that which you were supposed to do. You did not remember IkOankar, and you remain trapped in your greed. O mind! Time has passed; why are you crying now?

We pause.
We reflect.

We go through our life stages without awareness of what will make our lives beautiful. Caught up in greed and the need for accumulation, we don’t even recognize that there is a cost to all this. The more we are attracted to and form attachments to the desire of greed, the more we are caught in it. It snowballs into consuming, enjoying, and savoring, getting enticed by the material world. Desire becomes like a fire. We can feed any amount of wood to the fire, but it will keep burning and consuming. It will keep asking for more. It will never be satisfied.

In our burning and consuming, we cry! We cry about small things like a bad day, not getting a job, or not getting into a school we want to attend. We cry about our struggles with mental health or losing loved ones. Our cries are of many hues: we voice complaints, we express our sadness, we voice our pain, and we call for help.

Time passes.
Trapped, we cry out.
Realization dawns.
We came here to make this life valuable and beautiful.
How can we change this trajectory despite all of this life’s pains?

The answer:
By acknowledging the 1-Light.
By praising the 1-Light.
By dealing with the largest cry of all: the separation from the One!

May we long to connect to the 1-Light.
May the Wisdom-Guru guide us!