One Sun, Many Seasons
How does a heart stay whole when wisdom splits itself into so many directions?
How does a heart stay whole when wisdom splits itself into so many directions?
There are moments when the mind sits alone with its unsolved questions. Books line the walls, each claiming a path to freedom. A voice says, study this system, trust that master, follow these rituals, believe that doctrine. Another voice whispers the opposite. Even without saying a word, these voices pull at the threads of certainty. Sometimes they are comforting; sometimes they clash like waves against a rock. But underneath them all moves a single tide: the quiet longing to know what truly is.
It is into this timeless tension that Guru Nanak Sahib offers the sabad sung nightly in the Sohila—the hymn that brings the restless mind to rest before sleep. Placed in Raag Asa, a melody that holds both resolve and uplift, this sabad does not wage war with philosophies, nor does it crown one superior. Instead, it lets every path bow gently before the One Light that gives them life.
Here, in just a handful of lines, the Guru names the oldest schools of wisdom known to the world at that time. He honours their intricacies. He points to their hidden unity. And he leaves a tender guidance for any heart that seeks truth amid all its beautiful disguises.
ਰਾਗੁ ਆਸਾ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥
raagu āsā mahalā 1.
Raga Asa, First Embodiment.
This sabad is sung in Raag Asa, a musical landscape of hope and determined clarity. Asa means hope, but it is not naive optimism; it is the steady breath that persists even when confusion crowds the mind. Guru Nanak Sahib’s words in this raga anchor a wandering seeker back to simple faith: that beneath every question, a deeper answer waits, silent and undivided.
ਛਿਅ ਘਰ ਛਿਅ ਗੁਰ ਛਿਅ ਉਪਦੇਸ ॥
chia ghar chia gur chia updes.
Six are the houses, six are the gurus, six are the teachings.
In ancient India, seekers devised six great systems to explain the dance of existence. These ‘houses’—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, Vedanta—taught logic, atomic theory, the dual play of mind and matter, the discipline of breath and body, the rituals that uphold moral order, and the subtle oneness of spirit. Each system bore a sage as its torchbearer: Gautama for Nyaya, Kanada for Vaisheshika, Kapila for Sankhya, Patanjali for Yoga, Jaimini for Mimamsa, Vyasa for Vedanta.
These six lineages shaped whole civilizations. They guided emperors and hermits alike. They offered reason and ritual, meditation and method. For the sincere, they could clarify the mind. For the cunning, they could become cages of dogma and pride. Guru Nanak Sahib neither denies nor dismisses these grand houses; he simply names them for what they are: diverse windows looking out onto the same expanse.
ਗੁਰੁ ਗੁਰੁ ਏਕੋ ਵੇਸ ਅਨੇਕ ॥੧॥
guru guru eko ves anek.
The true Guru is only One; the forms are countless. (1)
All these doctrines and teachers draw breath from one undivided Wisdom. The sabad lifts the veil: behind every revered guru and every meticulously woven philosophy stands the One who alone is the Source. Like countless costumes in a grand play, the forms are many, the actor one.
This line frees the listener from the tyranny of comparison. One does not need to measure which school is tallest. Instead, one can trust that all wisdom flows from a single light. When the mind remembers this, it can walk any path without fear of losing the destination.
ਬਾਬਾ ਜੈ ਘਰਿ ਕਰਤੇ ਕੀਰਤਿ ਹੋਇ ॥
bābā jai ghari karte kīrat hoi.
O beloved one! In whatever house the Creator’s praise is sung—
Baba! The Guru calls gently, like a father’s or elder’s affectionate word for a child lost in thought. “O beloved one!” In this vast city of teachings, keep watch for the house where something deeper happens: the remembrance of the One who makes all houses possible.
Praise here is not mere chanting; it is a way of living awake. A mind praising the Creator is not entangled in boasting about its knowledge. It becomes soft, vast, simple. This house is not built with bricks of argument but with the breath of gratitude.
ਸੋ ਘਰੁ ਰਾਖੁ ਵਡਾਈ ਤੋਇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
so gharu rākhu vaḍāī toi.
Keep that house close; in it lies your true honor. (1) Pause.
Among all the dwellings the mind can enter, choose to dwell in this one: where the song of the Creator’s wonder echoes. Keep it close, tend it, protect it from neglect. In this gentle tending, one finds real greatness—not greatness of titles or clever speech, but the humble nobility of a heart that praises instead of competing.
ਵਿਸੁਏ ਚਸਿਆ ਘੜੀਆ ਪਹਰਾ ਥਿਤੀ ਵਾਰੀ ਮਾਹੁ ਹੋਆ ॥
visue casiā ghaṛīā paharā thitī vārī māhu hoā.
From blinks arise seconds; from seconds, minutes; from minutes, quarters of the day; from these, dates and days; thus, a month comes into being.
The Guru then draws a quiet parable from time itself. A blink is nothing, a fleeting closing of an eyelid. Yet gather blinks, and they become seconds; gather seconds, and time swells into hours; stack hours, and months unfold. The measure of time is an unbroken line of small moments linked together.
Likewise, all philosophies and practices are measures of the Infinite. They slice eternity into concepts. They portion the indivisible. A blink cannot claim the sun; a doctrine cannot confine the One.
ਸੂਰਜੁ ਏਕੋ ਰੁਤਿ ਅਨੇਕ ॥
sūraju eko ruti anek.
The sun is one; the seasons are many.
One sun swings countless moods across the sky - spring’s softness, summer’s blaze, autumn’s hush, winter’s rest. So too, one Creator clothes itself in countless climates of thought, belief, and revelation. The wise do not worship the season; they turn toward the sun that causes seasons to turn.
ਨਾਨਕ ਕਰਤੇ ਕੇ ਕੇਤੇ ਵੇਸ ॥੨॥੨॥
nānak karte ke kete ves.
Nanak: The Creator has countless forms. (2)(2)
With a single closing breath, Guru Nanak Sahib gathers every path back into the heart of the Creator. There is nothing to reject, nothing to hoard. There is only the wonder that in every form. Whether a book, a ritual, a thought, or a prayer. The same Creator hides and reveals itself.
Tonight, as this sabad lingers in the quiet space before sleep, it soothes the exhaustion of searching for the ‘best’ philosophy. It does not banish the schools or their wise teachers; it shows them to be seasons carried by the sun.
Tomorrow, debates may return. The mind may again wonder, Which teaching should I follow? Which way is right? This sabad answers not with another argument but with a gentle practice: wherever a thought leads, remember the Source. If praise still lives in the heart, the house is sound. If love for the One lights the mind, all seasons warm the same garden.
Keep a corner of the heart free of pride’s clutter. Let praise dwell there. Let the sun of awareness rise there. Let every season come and go, but keep the sun in sight.
Learn more about this sabad at The Guru Granth Project from Sikh Research Institute.
Listen to this sabad sung by Bhai Kuldeep Singh at Darbar Sahib.
By Amritpal Singh Taaj