Birhare

Guru Arjan Sahib

The second astpadi (set of stanzas) revolved around the beautiful glimpse of IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One) and living in the will of the One in deep love. We come to the final stanzas, where, again, “piare,” Beloved is used to address the beloved One. Here, a deep presence with the One, gratitude regardless of what is happening, and an unspoken, heartfelt wish for this continuous grace shape the foundation of these final stanzas.
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Guru Arjan begins by praising the all-knowing nature of the One: You alone know the entire method, O Beloved! The One knows and causes all the workings of the creation. Whom else can one go to other than the One who knows and hears all? There is truly no one else to whom the inner world can be revealed, no one else in whom to confide except the One. Guru Arjan continues to describe the inner workings of the universe: You are the giver of all beings; they wear and consume your given gifts. Both comforts and pains, joy and suffering, unfold within the will of the One—there is nowhere else more grounding or more true to turn to. This will of the One is what all depend on, and cannot exist without. The very existence of the entire creation is dependent on the all-knowing One. Guru Arjan describes the depth of the will of the One: Whatever You cause to do, that I do; O Beloved! The entire creation and its inhabitants are the delicate instruments of the One. Nothing exists outside of the One; there is no action outside of the will of the One—only in the perception of isolation.
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Shifting themes, Guru Arjan describes the only true way to accept the reality of creation: Day and night are both pleasant, O Beloved! In which the Nam of Hari is recited. To embrace and experience the will of the One is to experience Nam, the Identification with the One, IkOankar. Here, the Identification is in relation to the epithet Hari, invoking the all-pervasive quality of the One. When we recognize ourselves as droplets in the vast expanse of the universe through the Identification, the idea of pleasure changes. All days and all nights—every moment—in which this Identification is being recited, either internally or vocally, is pleasant. To exist in this remembrance is to return again and again to the One, in mind and action. Guru Arjan describes the deeds of remembrance and forgetting inscribed on the foreheads of all beings: The beings have to earn only that deed, O Beloved, the writ inscribed on the forehead from the Origin. All deeds, whether remembrance of the all-pervasive One or the forgetting of that One, are done in accordance with the writ of the Origin. The all-knowing Creator of the entire universe, the One, IkOankar, is the origin; thus, the writ: all of humanity’s behaviors, thoughts, actions, and impulses, are actively written by the One. This is not a matter of preordained destiny; rather, it is a matter of the interconnectedness of the being and the One.
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Guru Arjan expounds upon this interconnectedness and all-pervasiveness: You, the One Own-Self, pervade, O Beloved! This means that the One exists within everyone and everything, like water saturates a sponge or air fills a room. This deep recognition of the One pervading in all, in every being, is an essential underpinning of the Identification and the Will as well. Who can be made the “other” when there is only the One, when all beings are merely vessels, bodies, hearts filled, created, and infused by the One? What can exist outside of the Will? For instance, just as every object in a room is equally touched by sunlight, everyone is equally connected to the One. The image of the well captures losing this awareness: the descent into darkness, the ignorance born of forgetting the Origin, the One. Imagine falling into a well: it is dark, confining, and nearly impossible to escape alone. This represents how forgetting the One leads to feeling cut off and isolated. It is a submission to the One to rescue the seeker from the deep well of ignorance in which life is often lived. It asks to be brought to awareness, taken from the ingrained tendency to perceive only distance and not nearness with the One. The all-pervasive One becomes the refuge, the sanctuary from the pains born of this forgetfulness. Guru Arjan concludes the final stanza with a universal plea for all seekers: Nanak (signature): O Beloved, save me from the well, this world!
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Reflecting on this stanza, we are guided towards recognizing the all-pervasive One in all things, including our “selves.” It is not a matter of seeing something that is not apparent—it is much deeper: recognizing that the One is inherent in the world and in us, pervading us. When we feel this, we experience the Identification with the One and recognize the all-knowing One in all. We understand that it is really the One we ought to go to, the One we ought to confide in, the only One we can receive from. The One is the source of all we receive, the Giver of all things, skillfully stringing all events as per the Will, knowing far beyond what we know, and crafting all things in existence.
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All of our challenges, whether we like it or not, are as per the Will. There is no avoiding the Will; there is nowhere else to go but to face this. We live within the Will. As much as we can turn to and ask the One for ease in our lives, the world’s pains and sufferings will always remain. It is a reality of life. Instead, if we accept the Will, pain transforms, becoming a part of the journey towards union. We are asked to shift our understanding and begin engaging with suffering and pain as another step on the path towards the One. In doing so, we become aware of the singular source of contentment through suffering and pleasure: the One. In accepting the Will, we position ourselves to receive the ornament of Grace and true contentment, becoming devotees who face the Will with love and embrace it. While we may plead, begging for the Will to be otherwise, we can often supplicate to a fault. Many people turn to the One to supplicate, supplicate, and supplicate, yet what can we ask for when we know our joys and sorrows unfold in the will of IkOankar? IkOankar gives us everything already—we may just not know how to see that. It can be easier to understand that at some times more than others.
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As we are merely vessels, our union is all according to the will of IkOankar. As the One is doing everything, we have no true position from which we can feel pride or fall under the illusion that we did everything ourselves. Through the Identification, all moments in which we remember the One are pleasant. The comforting essence of the One is fully remembered and comes to dwell within us, staying with us in all moments, making all days and all nights pleasant regardless of what is written in the writ. We all have access to the One, for the One pervades all of us. Not being able to live in this awareness, living in separation, is an issue we have, which we ought to reconcile and resolve during the window of time we have. The use of the well as a metaphor for the world we live in highlights the need for support. A well is so narrow, dark, and deep that we simply cannot get out without help from outside. The all-pervasive One is the One with the power to pull us from the well-like perception of separation we so easily fall into. In the all-pervasive One, we find refuge from the pains of separation.
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With these reflections in mind, we may ask ourselves: Will we embrace that pain as part of the process towards union, rather than simply asking for it to be gone? Will we come to realize the one singular source of contentment that can be remembered through pain and joy, day and night? Will we lean into the One as our refuge, the One who can pull us out of our separation?
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SUMMARY
These compositions connect us to the progression experienced from being a seeker of the One to being in union with the One. They awaken us to how we may end our separation as Guru Arjan did. In the first set of stanzas, we witness an intense longing and yearning. We seekers are the “beloved” being addressed, and we are offered guidance on our paths about what we ought to offer ourselves to experience union, and we are urged not to forgo this union. In the second set of stanzas, the union with the One has been realized. We understand how this union transforms our lives, imbuing us with deep love and joy. It is beyond words, completely invaluable, and it all happens in the will of the One. In the third and final set of stanzas, everything glows with a deeper sense of union, truly facing, and fully absorbed in the will of the One. We become imbued with an Identification so deep that there is no longer any difference perceived between what the One is doing and what “we” are doing. All moments are pleasant in this loving connection, and we ask the One for this continued Grace.