Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa, Vahiguru ji ki Fatih!

It is the month of Kattak (mid-October to mid-November). In many places around the globe, the air is crisp, the skies are blue, and the leaves have begun to fall from the trees. The atmosphere is buzzing with anticipation as people look forward to reaping the fruits of their labor from previous months and lighting the lamps of Divali.

In this changing season, as the nights get longer and the darkness settles around us, we pause to ask: What deeds will we do? What kind of lamp will we light?

In the twelfth stanza of Barah Maha, Guru Nanak Sahib describes a different kind of lamp:

Message through Kattak: The inscribed-Writ is written, which was pleasing to IkOankar (the One). The lamp of wisdom lights naturally if it is lit through the essence of Wisdom.

When Nam (Identification with IkOankar), Sabad (Infinite Wisdom), and Guru (Wisdom) enter, our deeds change. Our understanding shifts, and we enter into a natural intuitive state.

We are permeated with devotion for the One, and in that sweetness of love, the lamp of Wisdom illuminates us from within. We bloom in delight. We collect the fruits of the deeds of Remembrance, Praise, and Identification. Even as the seasons change, even as life ebbs and flows, we find steadiness within.

And yet, the Guru says, the longing for union remains. Even in this sweetness, the desire to meet the One persists. Regardless of the season, the longing endures. What, then, in this season of separation, do we ask for? And how do we ask?

Guru Nanak Sahib inhabits the voice of the seeker and says:

Come meet me, open my doors-gates; one moment of separation is like six months.

We pause.

This intimacy is breathtaking.

There is no pretense here, no performance of reverence for the sake of performance, no talking around that which we seek.

The Guru’s words are piercing in their honesty and vulnerability—in their candor.

Come meet me.
One moment of separation is like six months.

Here is a seeker who is in bloom, steady and in love, and still eager for union. Even if the meeting still has not happened yet, they are in celebration. In this state, the internal and the external are harmonious. In this state, the seeker begins to see the fruits of their labor. In this state, the realization wells up from within—there is no real separation between the lover and the Beloved.

In the month of Kattak, in this season of change, let us reflect on our changing.
Let us bring the devotion of Identification within.
Let us settle into our heart-homes, steady.  
Let us keep the light, the expectation of union, lit.
Let us hope for union.

May we meet the One within our home-hearts.
May the Wisdom-Guru guide us!