Listen, Machhindra: a hermit is the one who masters the pulls inside and rests, awake, in the deep stillness of the One.
The Arc
Leaving home and wearing robes does not make you a hermit. Steady hands on the handlebars do. Desire, anger, greed, clinging and pride push at you like gusts of wind. Keep a firm grip and you do not wobble, and your whole family is carried along with you. Ask for love, not for things. Let contentment fill you; money cannot buy it. Become stillness, and rest your attention on the True Name. Keep hoping and planning, but hold your hopes loosely, like a small bird in an open hand. And when the Guru's teaching reaches you, take it in like food and medicine. At the centre, the Rahao: a hermit is someone who gains this understanding and rests in deep stillness, day and night.
Key Vocabulary
Machhindra — Matsyendranath, founding master of the Nath yogis.
avadhoot — the wandering hermit.
sunn samaadh — absorption in the deep stillness.
taarhee — deep trance; aasan — the yogic posture.
chhia darsan — the six classical schools of philosophy.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Contentment as amulai (priceless) is the hymn's quiet centre: the seeker who begs only for love and holds hope loosely already has the one treasure worth having. The bond of the Guru and the disciple is named as the living channel through which this passes.
For Raag Raamkalee
This is the second of Guru Nanak's named yogi-dialogues in Raamkalee, spoken to the Naths' founder Machhindra. Like the horn-and-bowl hymn before it, it honors the yogic path by turning each of its outer marks into an inner realization.
Hukumnama
Subject: Stillness inside is what makes a hermit Preview: a yogi master addressed by name, gusts of wind, a begging bowl filled with love, and a bird in an open hand.
Today: Leaving home and wearing robes does not make you a hermit. Steady hands on the handlebars do. Desire, anger, greed, clinging and pride push at you like gusts of wind. Keep a firm grip and you do not wobble, and your whole family is carried along with you. Ask for love, not for things. Let contentment fill you; money cannot buy it. Become stillness, and rest your attention on the True Name. Keep hoping and planning, but hold your hopes loosely, like a small bird in an open hand. And when the Guru's teaching reaches you, take it in like food and medicine.
A hermit is someone who rests in deep stillness, day and night.
For today: When anger or wanting gusts at you today, keep your grip steady: take three slow breaths first.
Listen, Machhindra: a hermit is the one who masters the pulls inside and rests, awake, in the deep stillness of the One.
The Arc
Leaving home and wearing robes does not make you a hermit. Steady hands on the handlebars do. Desire, anger, greed, clinging and pride push at you like gusts of wind. Keep a firm grip and you do not wobble, and your whole family is carried along with you. Ask for love, not for things. Let contentment fill you; money cannot buy it. Become stillness, and rest your attention on the True Name. Keep hoping and planning, but hold your hopes loosely, like a small bird in an open hand. And when the Guru's teaching reaches you, take it in like food and medicine. At the centre, the Rahao: a hermit is someone who gains this understanding and rests in deep stillness, day and night.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Contentment as amulai (priceless) is the hymn's quiet centre: the seeker who begs only for love and holds hope loosely already has the one treasure worth having. The bond of the Guru and the disciple is named as the living channel through which this passes.
For Raag Raamkalee
This is the second of Guru Nanak's named yogi-dialogues in Raamkalee, spoken to the Naths' founder Machhindra. Like the horn-and-bowl hymn before it, it honors the yogic path by turning each of its outer marks into an inner realization.
Hukumnama
Subject: Stillness inside is what makes a hermit Preview: a yogi master addressed by name, gusts of wind, a begging bowl filled with love, and a bird in an open hand.
Today: Leaving home and wearing robes does not make you a hermit. Steady hands on the handlebars do. Desire, anger, greed, clinging and pride push at you like gusts of wind. Keep a firm grip and you do not wobble, and your whole family is carried along with you. Ask for love, not for things. Let contentment fill you; money cannot buy it. Become stillness, and rest your attention on the True Name. Keep hoping and planning, but hold your hopes loosely, like a small bird in an open hand. And when the Guru's teaching reaches you, take it in like food and medicine.
A hermit is someone who rests in deep stillness, day and night.
For today: When anger or wanting gusts at you today, keep your grip steady: take three slow breaths first.