Translation

Divine Protector
‍What is the Divine?

Sorath Sovereign 10
O Divine, You protect my honor.
You are Nilakantha, Narahari, Narayana, Nilabasana, and Banavari.1. 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.1.
Vice-free, Age-free, Sleep-free, Poison-free, Hell-savior,
Ocean of compassion, Seer of three-tenses, Destroyer of bad-deeds.2.
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.3.1.4

Commentary

Sorath, a musical mode of the second quarter of the night, invokes the mood and emotions of power and strong beliefs with tones of seriousness, longing, detachment, and love.

In Indic parlance, Prabhu denotes a master, lord, ruler, or powerful and capable owner. Prabhu refers to gods and deities, as well as chiefs or leaders in Hindu traditions. The 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 protection from only the 1-Divine; His honor and dignity lie with the 1. The Sovereign compares His 1-Prabhu to the various gods-prabhus of Hindu traditions. For instance, Nilakantha refers to the blue-throated Shiva who drank poison for people. Narahari refers to Narasimha, "man-lion," and Vishnu is the yoga god. Narayana is the water-vehicle of Vishnu in yogic slumber. Nilabasana refers to the blue-dressed Krishna. Banavari refers to the grove-dweller; it is for Krishna, also an incarnation of Vishnu. My Sovereign equates the 1-Divine with all deities; the 1 possesses all their attributes and more, as both texts and people identify with them.

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 are 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 the 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, sleeplessness to indulgences, and even 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.

Will I realize that 1-Divine is the protector as my Sovereign did?

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

I created this artwork with a profound fusion of Hindu mythology and mythological figures. Through this artistic composition, I aim to symbolize the diverse and multifaceted qualities of the ੧/1. The artwork serves as a visual exploration of the richness and depth of the ੧/1.

The sabad emphasizes that only the ੧/1 can possess all these qualities and capacities simultaneously. Reference is made to the blue-throated Shiva, who is known as the giver of life and brings vitality, resulting in greenery and stability on the water. However, all of these qualities and more are embodied by the ੧/1. The floating image of the ੧/1 on the water's surface symbolizes water's steadiness, blueness, and life-giving nature. I aimed to create an illusion of solidity, as if the water were in a laminar flow, where the liquid water appeared stable despite its movement. 

The last line in the composition references the ੧/1 holding a “dhanurpani” or bow in hand and possessing an “asidhari” or sword. The artwork depicts both standing in the water, again illustrating the stability of the bow and sword in the water. Another characteristic represented is "dharadhar," signifying the embracer of the world, portrayed by a slightly obscured map of the continents beneath the water's surface. I chose to depict a map instead of people to convey a sense of inclusivity and universality, rather than representing specific individuals 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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