The Heart Blooms of Itself When the Light Dawns

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

This verse says that when the Light shines inside, the heart opens like a flower and our little light joins the great Light.

It is the moment of full sunrise in the shabad. Kamal bigaas — the kamal, the lotus flower of the heart, blooms. Why a lotus? Because a lotus opens its petals to the sun. In the dark and cold, it stays shut tight. When light comes, it opens. The heart is like that. It is closed and guarded in the dark of the ego and of feeling separate. When the inner light dawns, it opens by itself. You cannot pry a flower open without tearing it. You give it light, and it opens on its own.

The first line says something amazing about that inner Light: antar jot pargat paasaaraa — the jot, the Light, deep inside, shines out as the whole wide paasaaraa, creation. This ties the shabad together. An earlier verse said the whole universe is inside you. Here, the Light inside you is the same Light shining out as the universe. The little flame in your heart and the great fire that lights the stars are one Light. Gur saakhee miti-aa anDhi-aaraa — through the Guru's teaching, the darkness is wiped away. And when it lifts, we do not find some small private light. We find we were always part of the one Light that shines through everything.

Then the homecoming the whole shabad has been building toward: jotee jot milaavani-aa — our light merges into the Light. Picture a candle carried to a big bonfire. The little flame joins the fire and becomes part of it. With that comes sadaa sukh, lasting peace. Not a quick good feeling, but the deep peace of a flame that has come home to the fire. The heart opens to the light, and the light inside flows back into the Light that is everything.