As seekers on the path towards IkOankar (The One), we desperately seek connection. As human beings in the world, we are moved every which way by entanglements in temporary material things and temporary relationships. These things fight for our attention, and we find ourselves in a perpetual cycle of forgetfulness, separation, longing, and sometimes, momentary connection.

In the tumultuousness of this cycle, we seek steadiness through various means—we might immerse ourselves in elaborate rituals, or lean into asceticism, we might go to particular pilgrimage places or deal in classifications of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, categorizing and dividing things up in the hopes that adhering to these systems will bring us the connection we seek.

But what happens when we find ourselves dissatisfied with these infinite methods and means? What happens when we still find ourselves separated?

Guru Teghbahadar Sahib’s words echo profoundly, piercing through the noise:

O mind! Place your love in the Beautiful One. Listen to the virtues of the Earth-Knower with the ears. sing the songs of the Earth-Knower with the tongue.

Simplicity shakes us out of our complex systems. The Guru speaks to the mind and urges it to live in praise of the One, and to place love in that One. We are pointed to two Divine names: Ram (the Beautiful One) and Gobind (The Earth-Knower) as shining threads of connection.

We pause.
We reflect.

If the One feels too vast, too abstract, and too out of reach, what are the qualities of that One that we can anchor ourselves to? We can understand the Beautiful One through witnessing the beauty of creation. We can begin to understand the Earth-Knower by being in relationship with the earth.

Our attention is brought toward the physicality of connecting with the One: listen to the virtues with your ears, sing the songs with your tongue. We have been given these bodies! We can use our physical sensory organs to develop love for the One.

Guru Teghbahadar Sahib invokes one more name in the composition: Madho, of the Owner of Maya (attachment to the material and to relationships). The One is the Sovereign who overpowers all things that steep us in forgetfulness. So when we feel that attachment fighting for our attention, consuming us, and immersing us in fear, we can free ourselves through remembrance of the One, of this particular quality of the One.

Our time here is limited, and death can come at any time. Connecting with the One can feel overwhelming and untenable, especially when we find ourselves constantly pulled in different directions. Guru Teghbahadar gives us a profound gift of different threads of connection to pull on—different qualities to make the One who is vast feel more tangible, more Present. In this way, we can begin to cultivate love.

May we listen with the ears.
May we praise with the tongue.

May the Wisdom-Guru guide us!