Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa, Vahiguru ji ki Fatih!

In our current context, we are caught up in the plays of political and religious leaders, influencers, and commentators. The problems of our present often seem unsolvable and unprecedented because we attribute a kind of permanence to them. We are well-aware of the rise of populism and demagogues. We have watched as our views polarize—as echo chambers in online spaces lead to real-world violence and human rights violations by governments and constituents alike. We bear witness to genocides on our phones, and bear witness to impunity for the perpetrators of these genocides.

These problems are not unique to our time—they have simply changed shape. How, then, do we make sense of what feels too overwhelming to look at and acknowledge? How, then, might we respond to our current times?

In Asa ki Var, the Ballad of Hope, Guru Nanak Sahib speaks of the temporariness of the powers that be, repeating the word kur, or false. It is not just that these things are false—full of deception—but also that they are temporary. We feel overwhelmed because we cannot see the bigger picture. We are caught up in these plays. What if we understood the temporariness of these powers? What if we understood the temporariness of all things?

Guru Nanak Sahib utters:

False is the king, false is the citizenry; false is the entire world.
False are the tents, false is the attic; false is the occupant.
False is the gold, false is the silver; false is the wearer.
False is the body, false is the dress; false is the boundless beauty.
False is the husband, false is the wife; who, having indulged, stay distressed.
The love of the false is attached to the false; Creator has been forgotten.
With whom to have friendship? The entire world is transient.
The false is sweet, the false is like honey; the false drowns the entire boatload.
Nanak says a prayer: Without You, all is false and only false.

We pause.
We reflect.

The sovereigns, the leaders, the subjects, our relationships, our shelters, our bodies, our possessions, the world itself—all is temporary. But we attach ourselves to this short-lived world and all that exists within it because these things seem sweet to us. We grasp at all that will leave us, and in that grasping, IkOankar (the One, the Creator) is forgotten. In our forgetfulness, we misunderstand this world to be permanent. In our forgetfulness, we become unsteady. In our forgetfulness, we drown.

The Guru calls us to reflect on whether we feel the presence of the One in our relationships, in our experience of the world and its plays. Are we accumulating that which is temporary, or are we accumulating remembrance of the only One who is Eternal?

May we truly feel the presence of the One as the only Eternal.
May our remembrance keep us steady in unsteady times.
May we respond to our current moment with bravery, clarity, and devotion to the One.

May the Wisdom-Guru guide us!