Unlike the case of other articles and posts, I don’t know why I am writing this post. I have no idea. I haven’t listed down any thoughts or arranged them.
The only reason for writing this post is that I am a bit overwhelmed with this thing called Gurbani. Today, while talking to my friend, I said, “I would like to climb onto Guru Nanak’s shoulders and ask him how could he create Gurbani.”
She said Guru Nanak didn’t create Gurbani. He was just a medium for Gurbani to flow into this world.
But I wasn’t happy with these words. I told her that it was just how we define Guru Nanak. If we define Guru Nanak as a person who was born in 1469 AD, then we may say that Gurbani flowed through him, and he was just a medium.
But for me, Guru Nanak is the one who is everything that was, everything that is, and everything that will be. I call the “One” or “Is” or “God” by the name Guru Nanak.
Of course, Guru Nanak was born on this earth, and that was such a precious gift from him to the entire earth. But he is also the one who always exists in everything and everyone; who shines through the eyes of our worst enemies; who shines on the forehead of the most beloved saints; who shines in the eyes of all the children; who shines in the flames of all the fires; who resides in the hearts of all human beings and animals; whose beauty is unparalleled; whose love is unconditional; whose eyes are full of compassion; whose hands of full of joy and love; who body is the embodiment of beauty; whose smile can brighten up the skies; whose feet house the heavens of the earth.
And he chose to gift the humanity Gurbani. Wow! Such a treasure! The intense feelings of love and devotion and sacrifice stored behind the words of Gurbani have the power to immediately give a glimpse of the true reality of the world to anyone who just brushes by it. Gurbani has the power to take a person from a shallow earthly life to the deepest heavens of human existence. The shabad “Raaj na chahu mukat na chahu, man preet charan kamlare” (I don’t want kingdoms nor salvation. Just love of your feet) tells the reality of the universe no one has heard about and in words and way that are not dry. Gurbani is not gyaan or knowledge. It is love. But probably, love contains all the knowledge.
It is such a gift to the world and especially to the Sikh community who has gotten it by inheritance. But it is extremely sad that we haven’t lost ourselves in the ocean of Gurbani. We are so lost in the material world that we haven’t even seen the face of Gurbani. The face of Gurbani is so bewitching that once one sees it, he cannot forget it. But alas, we think Gurbani gives us knowledge or we need to recite Gurbani to get our work done or have a good life.
May Guru Nanak give us all a glimpse of Gurbani at least once so that for at least one moment, we can appreciate what lies beneath those words.