The Deathless One is everywhere, unbound by birth, family, or fear, and the same One sits enthroned inside your own body.
The Arc
Look around you. The Kind One is there, wherever you turn. The One was never born and never leaves. It has no parents, no family line and no caste, so it belongs to everyone equally. Its Word is cool, like shade on a hot day. Your body is a fortress with a palace inside, and the One sits on the throne there. Five restless pulls tug at you: wanting, anger, greed, clinging and pride. Steady them, and you are fit for that throne. Spend time with the Sangat. The One is the friend who stays with you all the way home. At the centre, the opening line: wherever I look, I see the Kind One.
Key Vocabulary
Akaal Purakh - the Deathless Being
niraalam - free and detached even while pervading all
chautha ghar - the fourth, still state beyond the three moods (gunas)
sahaj - natural ease
panch - the five restless pulls (wanting, anger, greed, clinging, pride)
ant sakhaa-ee - the friend at the end
Themes and Cross-Connections
The body-fortress and inner throne set the keynote of Nanak's Maaroo Solhe: the turn from any outer battle to inner sovereignty. Death is disarmed again and again, made a small mouthful, made a friend, rather than feared.
For Raag Maaroo
Maaroo faces mortality directly. Guru Nanak answers not with dread but with a Deathless One already enthroned within, so the only battle left is the gentle mastery of one's own heart.
Translation Notes
In verse 4, death and birth become a single mouthful, small and nothing to fear. In verse 14, mastering the five inner pulls makes one a brave helper of the One. In verse 2, the One has no caste and no lineage, so no one stands nearer to the One by birth. In verse 15, the One is the friend at the end, and the crossing is a gentle homecoming. The three gunas and the fourth state, the fourteen realms, and the sun and moon as lamps form an old picture of the universe, full of wonder.
Hukumnama
Subject: Wherever you look, the Kind One is there Preview: a shadow with no family tree, a cool Word, a sweet flute, two lamps, and a throne inside the body.
Today: Look around you. The Kind One is there, wherever you turn. The One was never born and never leaves. It has no parents, no family line and no caste, so it belongs to everyone equally. Its Word is cool, like shade on a hot day. Your body is a fortress with a palace inside, and the One sits on the throne there. Five restless pulls tug at you: wanting, anger, greed, clinging and pride. Steady them, and you are fit for that throne. Spend time with the Sangat. The One is the friend who stays with you all the way home.
The Kind One is everywhere you look, and inside you too.
For today: Look for one act of kindness today, and remember the Kind One is there in it.
The Deathless One is everywhere, unbound by birth, family, or fear, and the same One sits enthroned inside your own body.
The Arc
Look around you. The Kind One is there, wherever you turn. The One was never born and never leaves. It has no parents, no family line and no caste, so it belongs to everyone equally. Its Word is cool, like shade on a hot day. Your body is a fortress with a palace inside, and the One sits on the throne there. Five restless pulls tug at you: wanting, anger, greed, clinging and pride. Steady them, and you are fit for that throne. Spend time with the Sangat. The One is the friend who stays with you all the way home. At the centre, the opening line: wherever I look, I see the Kind One.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The body-fortress and inner throne set the keynote of Nanak's Maaroo Solhe: the turn from any outer battle to inner sovereignty. Death is disarmed again and again, made a small mouthful, made a friend, rather than feared.
For Raag Maaroo
Maaroo faces mortality directly. Guru Nanak answers not with dread but with a Deathless One already enthroned within, so the only battle left is the gentle mastery of one's own heart.
Translation Notes
In verse 4, death and birth become a single mouthful, small and nothing to fear. In verse 14, mastering the five inner pulls makes one a brave helper of the One. In verse 2, the One has no caste and no lineage, so no one stands nearer to the One by birth. In verse 15, the One is the friend at the end, and the crossing is a gentle homecoming. The three gunas and the fourth state, the fourteen realms, and the sun and moon as lamps form an old picture of the universe, full of wonder.
Hukumnama
Subject: Wherever you look, the Kind One is there Preview: a shadow with no family tree, a cool Word, a sweet flute, two lamps, and a throne inside the body.
Today: Look around you. The Kind One is there, wherever you turn. The One was never born and never leaves. It has no parents, no family line and no caste, so it belongs to everyone equally. Its Word is cool, like shade on a hot day. Your body is a fortress with a palace inside, and the One sits on the throne there. Five restless pulls tug at you: wanting, anger, greed, clinging and pride. Steady them, and you are fit for that throne. Spend time with the Sangat. The One is the friend who stays with you all the way home.
The Kind One is everywhere you look, and inside you too.
For today: Look for one act of kindness today, and remember the Kind One is there in it.