Translation

Divine Protector
‍What is the Divine?

Sorath Sovereign 10
O Divine, You protect my honor.
You are Nilkantha, Narhari, Narayana, Nilbasan, and Banvari. Pause-reflect.
O Supreme Being, Supreme Ruler, Owner, Auspicious, Air-Consumer,
Madhava as the Great Light, Madhu-killer, Mandhata, and Mura-Killer as the Emancipator.
Vice-free, age-free, sleep-free, poison-free, hell-savior,
Ocean of compassion, seer of three-tenses, destroyer of bad-deeds.
Bow-wielder in hand, patience-possessor, earth-embracer, vice-free, sword-possessor.
I, of bad intellect, take refuge in Your feet; hold my hand to save me.

Commentary

Sorath musical mode invokes mood and emotions of power and strong beliefs.

Prabhu is a master, lord, ruler, or owner who is strong and capable in Indic parlance. Prabhu refers to gods and deities as well as chiefs or leaders in Hindu traditions. Its connotation is that of the ultimate “god” or “divine.”

Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, the Sovereign, addresses the 1 as the Prabhu-Divine. He proclaims to the world that he seeks the protection from only the 1-Divine; his honor and dignity are with the 1. The Sovereign compares his 1-Prabhu to the various gods-prabhus of Hindu traditions.  Nilkantha is blue-throated Shiva for drinking poison for people. Narhari is Narasimha “man-lion,” Vishnu as yoga god. Narayana is water-vehicle Vishnu in yogic slumber. Nilbasan is blue-dressed, and Banvari is grove-dweller; this refers to blue grove-dweller Krishna, also a Vishnu incarnate. My Sovereign equates 1-Divine with all deities; 1 has all their attributes and more, as texts and people identify with.

When will I realize my Sovereign's 1-Divine as my Supreme Being, my Supreme Ruler, my Owner, my Auspicious, and my Air-Consumer? Or will I continue to either accept or be in doubt that some other earthly or mythological entities equal to the 1? When will I realize my Sovereign's 1-Divine as my Great Light, who is present in everyone though people believe it is present only in Madhava as Vishnu-incarnate popular gods like Rama and Krishna? When will I realize my Sovereign's 1-Divine as my Emancipator, who is much more than the mythological demon killers Madhu and Mura, as well as an ancient king named Mandhata? My Sovereign's 1-Divine is eternal and self-illumined, beyond life and death.

When will I realize my Sovereign’s 1-Divine as my Divine who transcends what I am entangled in, from vices to aging to sleeplessness to indulgences to hell? When will I realize my Sovereign's 1-Divine as my Divine whose kindness is much deeper than ours, whose observations are beyond our time reference, and whose capability to eliminate what we perceive as “bad” or “evil” deeds is whole? My Sovereign's 1-Divine is creative, fearless, and enemy-less.

When will I realize my Sovereign's 1-Divine as my Divine who embraces the entire creation with patience and flawlessly eliminates all challenges with the arrows and the sword under the Own-Self Command? When will I accept my flawed and fraudulent intellect and take sanctuary in my Sovereign's 1-Divine’s sanctuary where I am mentored and protected? My Sovereign assures me that his 1-Divine will hold my hand, pull me out of the mud-trapping, liberate me, and free me from the entanglements of things and relationships that continue my pangs of separation from the 1.

Note: We are very finite; our understanding is finite too. We aspire to deepen our relationship with the Guru. In this translation and commentary, we focused more on meaning, context, and message and less on literalism and poetics. We aspire to learn and live the message to end our separation from the 1.

Art

This artwork, inspired by Guru Gobind Singh’s composition, uses Hindu mythology and mythological figures to show the varied qualities of the ੧/IkOankar/the One. The composition explains that only ੧ can simultaneously hold all these qualities and capacities. There is a reference to the blue-throated Shiva, the giver of life to beings that makes things green and steady on the water. However, all this and more is the ੧. The ੧ floating on the surface of the water shows the steadiness and the blueness and references water’s life-giving capacity. I wanted it almost to look like the water was solid, as though it was in a laminar flow where liquid water appeared solid despite movement. The last line references the ੧ with a bow in hand (dhanurpāni) and the possessor of the sword (asidhārī). I drew both standing up, once again depicting being steady in the water. A final characteristic is “dharādhar,” embracer of the world, shown with the slightly obscured map of the continents below the surface of the water. I chose a map instead of drawing people as I wanted something all-encompassing, not something submerged in water.

‍Note: Where there is greenery, there is ‘natural life.’  I situate the readers, the learners, and seekers, those engaging with the composition there. In every artwork, I have placed ੧, a reference to IkOankar, the One, without limiting it to an object-based depiction such as a sun or a moon. The colors are chosen intentionally to evoke a particular interpretation or adhere to a cohesive color palette to show the relationship between the ten compositions of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib.

Gurmukhi

ਸੋਰਠਿ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੀ ੧੦
ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਜੂ   ਤੋ ਕਹ ਲਾਜ ਹਮਾਰੀ॥
ਨੀਲਕੰਠ ਨਰਹਰਿ ਨਾਰਾਇਣ   ਨੀਲਬਸਨਿ ਬਨਵਾਰੀ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ॥
ਪਰਮ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਪਰਮੇਸੁਰ ਸੁਆਮੀ   ਪਾਵਨ ਪਉਨ ਅਹਾਰੀ॥
ਮਾਧਵ ਮਹਾਜੋਤਿ ਮਧੁਮਰਦਨ   ਮਾਨਿ ਮੁਕੰਦ ਮੁਰਾਰੀ॥੧॥
ਨਿਰਬਿਕਾਰ ਨਿਰਜੁਰ ਨਿੰਦ੍ਰਾਬਿਨੁ   ਨਿਰਬਿਖ ਨਰਕਨਿਵਾਰੀ॥
ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਸਿੰਧੁ ਕਾਲ ਤ੍ਰੈ ਦਰਸੀ   ਕੁਕ੍ਰਿਤਿ ਪ੍ਰਨਾਸਨਕਾਰੀ॥੨॥
ਧਨੁਰਪਾਨਿ ਧ੍ਰਿਤਮਾਨ ਧਰਾਧਰ   ਅਨਿਬਿਕਾਰ ਅਸਿਧਾਰੀ॥
ਹਉਂ ਮਤਿਮੰਦ ਚਰਨ ਸਰਨਾਗਤਿ   ਕਰ ਗਹਿ ਲੇਹੁ ਉਬਾਰੀ॥੩॥੧॥੪॥

Transcription

soraṭhi pātisāhī 10
prabhu jū   to kah lāj hamārī.
nīlkanṭh narhari nārāiṇ   nīlbasani banvārī.1. rahāu.
param purakhu parmesur suāmī   pāvan paün ahārī.
mādhav mahājoti madhumardan   māni mukand murārī.1.
nirbikār nirjur nindrābinu   nirbikh naraknivārī.
kripāsindhu kāl trai darsī   kukriti pranāsankārī.2.
dhanurpāni dhritmān dharādhar   anibikār asidhārī.
haüṁ matimand caran sarnāgati   kar gahi lehu ubārī.3.1.4.

Sabad Kirtan

Bhai Balbir Singh

Sabad Recitation

Harjinder Singh

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