Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
People see the One, hear about it, even talk about it — and yet its deepest essence still slips right past them. Just knowing about the One is not the same as reaching it.
So how does someone who feels lame, empty-handed, and blind ever run to embrace the One? Like this: let a loving awe of the One be your feet to walk on; let its love be your hands to reach with; let understanding it be your eyes to see by. Walk and reach and see that way, and the soul finally meets its Beloved.
This shalok of Guru Angad answers the riddle the previous one posed. It begins with an honest problem: He is seen, heard and known, but His subtle essence is not obtained. You can have all the outer contact with the divine — see the images, hear the hymns, know the teachings — and still miss the living essence. Information about the One is not the same as union with it. So the soul that wants to truly reach the One finds itself, in a sense, disabled: How can the lame, armless and blind person run to embrace the Lord? We lack the right organs for this particular journey; ordinary feet, hands, and eyes cannot make it.
And then comes one of the most beautiful instructions in all of Gurbani — a complete spiritual practice in a single line: Let the Fear of God be your feet, and let His Love be your hands; let His Understanding be your eyes. Since the body's organs cannot reach the One, you must grow new ones, inner ones. The feet you walk to the One on are bhau — reverent awe, the trembling wonder before something vast and holy. The hands you reach for the One with are prem — love. And the eyes you see the One by are understanding — boojh, real comprehension that goes past mere knowing-about.
Notice the wisdom of the pairing. You cannot walk to the One on cleverness or effort; you walk on awe. You cannot grasp the One with grabbing or willpower; you reach with love. You cannot see the One with the physical eye or the analyzing mind; you see with understanding. Grow these three inner organs — awe for feet, love for hands, understanding for eyes — and the journey that was impossible for the lame and blind becomes possible. In this way, O wise soul-bride, you shall be united with your Husband Lord. The soul-bride of Maajh finally meets her Beloved — not by stronger effort, but by being reborn with the right faculties: feet of awe, hands of love, eyes of understanding.
Of the three inner organs — awe, love, understanding — which is most alive in you right now, and which most needs growing?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI