Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa, Vahiguru ji ki Fatih!

It is our human tendency to want to know how things work, to understand them, and to explore our curiosity in hopes of finding answers. We want to make the world legible. But what do we do when there are things that cannot be understood?

We turn to Guru Teghbahadar Sahib’s words in the musical mode of Rag Bihagra, where it is revealed that no one—not even the wisest and most learned, the most disciplined and most dedicated—can comprehend the nature of IkOankar (the One).

The Guru says, no one knows the way of IkOankar. Yogis, celibates, ascetics, and many wise people, having been consumed in trying to know, have lost.

No one knows the way of IkOankar.

That way is unpredictable. It defies logic and understanding. It is in this movement, this play of the One, that a king becomes a pauper and a pauper becomes a king, that empty ones become filled and the filled ones become empty, that IkOankar has expanded attachment and also taken care of us, that the One who takes care of us has also led us into illusion, that things seem to change and contract and expand without any sort of set understandable method.

The movement of IkOankar cannot be fully understood.

We pause.

What can we do then, with our obsession to know? Are our attempts to know consuming us? Is there any end to this exhaustion?

The Guru encourages us not to even look for finality and answers. This is what causes us doubt and confusion.

What can we do instead?

We can find awe in the play of IkOankar. We can marvel at the Vastness of IkOankar. We can attach our consciousness to the Nam of IkOankar. We can sit in our wonder at the movement and play of the One instead of trying to understand it.

Bearing witness to this play and experiencing it without attempting to explain it can remove those doubts and illusions from within.

Can we enjoy this world-play?
Can we seek connection rather than answers?
Can we witness in awe?
May the Wisdom-Guru guide us!