Dear Japjisahib Ji
Thank you !
Such a shame Guru Ravidas never got to watch discovery channel, for if he did, he may have made it a palatable dish on a table for 2 with lit candles. Perfect Valentine treat if you ask me, sits just right with the theme of the entire verse - true love.
Know the word to predate writing - the word was communicated from father to son before writing came to be.
I can't say I don't love you coz I do. You're the beautiful wise Heron who sits motionless on the edge of lake SPN, observing n sizing your next meal. As soon as, it appears on your radar, bosh comes the sting from that crouched position and dust n done till kingdom come is how it Ends.
No my dear brother, we've humble beginnings, education, religion, arts n sciences were reserved for the rich n famous. We [Sikh] were the ordinary Jo Bloggs who believed pigs could fly and the my-buddi seated spinning the wheel on the moon and the rest were all true because we "believed" the stories and the story tellers, just like children do - beautiful human past. Our Banikars weren't aliens or super-humans who had enlarged brains to look into the "things in themselves", no, they were simple humanbeings who devoted much of their time in search of "truth". Our ancestors weren't fortuitously placed to embark on the runway cycle of biological and cultural development that led to modern and multitasking humans that we are today. No, we are evolving for better.
Here's a classic example to show how ignorant humans can be. For nearly 2000 years, educated people in Europe believed that bloodletting [deliberately causing a sick person to lose blood] was the most effective treatment for a variety of illnesses. The "fact" [after watching discovery channel, ha] that bloodletting wasn't what it had been believed to be, didn't hit the headlines until 1800 - 1900's, and then some physicians argued against it and as a result it was stopped. The beauty in all this is Japjisahib, that knowledge grows from such differences of opinions. We move forward.
To read poetry and understand its meaning n significance one must reconstruct the past in which the Banikar lived, that is, social, cultural, environmental together with the Banikars personal status, qualifications, inclinations and so on. Then and only then will you be able to make sense n enjoy. For example, a car run on 4 wheels, if one of the wheel is punctured you won't get the fit for purpose signal flagged up and destination a far cry. Similarly, the Banikars must be subjected to their physical, spiritual, mental and emotional dimensions to realise what they were, why they were, who they were and then digest their experiences, thought processes in light of their human potential. The divine hand operating in the background is our "belief" but how that divinity is perceived and consequently conceived is what constitutes our "faith".
I love you n have a little chuckle every time you have a dig at the spiritualist camp.
Goodnight n Godbless