In an age of division and countless gods, Guru Nanak Sahib uttered IkOankar—the One without boundary, the One beyond duality. Guru Arjan Sahib compiled this wisdom into the Adi Granth, a radiant treasury of voices—Gurus, Sikhs, Bhagats, and Bhats—songs of love, remembrance, and personal encounters with the One, first installed at Sri Harimandar Sahib in 1604. A century later, at Damdama Sahib in 1708, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib wove in the revelations of Guru Teghbahadar Sahib and, with boundless love, bestowed Guruship upon the Granth, affirming the Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal Light and Guide of the Sikhs. Through centuries, this Light has not dimmed—it continues to guide us, inviting each heart to attune itself to the Wisdom within.

421 years after the Adi Granth’s Prakash Purab, we turn to a composition on time and the nature of its ebbs and flows. Each stanza of Guru Arjan Sahib’s Thiti Bani correlates to the waxing and waning of the moon. In all our waxing and waning, personally and Panthically, what is our relationship with Sabad? With the utterances of the Wisdom? How can we find steadiness within change?

Through the twelfth lunar day, Guru Arjan Sahib offers precious insights:

Do charity,
recite Nam, take bath.
Practice the devotion of IkOankar, renounce pride.
Drink the amrit of IkOankar in the company of the Sage-Guru.
The mind is satiated in the color of the kirtan of IkOankar.
Tender Bani satiates all.

If we can serve, engage in Nam, and cleanse ourselves internally, we can cultivate devotion to the One within and eliminate our pride. We can imbibe the praise of the One, the glory of the One, through singing in the company of the virtuous beings. We can take in that sweetness.

The tender and sweet Word of the Wisdom ends our cravings and thirsts.

It satiates the mind. It softens us. It melts away our stubbornness. We become receptive to its message. Through the gift of this Wisdom, through reciting, singing, remembering, and experiencing it, we learn to live more humbly, more steadily, and more beautifully.

It is to this Wisdom, timeless and diverse, these love-songs, these unnarratable narratives, that we bow our heads to, giving up our mat, or intellect—our ways of thinking and being, to allow for that Wisdom to enter us. This is how we become tender to all things. When we place our heads in front of the Guru, what are we bowing to? What are we humbly submitting to? Devotedly committing to?

May we make an effort to be in remembrance.
May we make an effort to be in service.
May we soften, allowing the Wisdom to enter.
May the tender Bani satiate us, steady us, and make us whole.
May the Wisdom-Guru Guide us!