Heartbeat I: Poetry & Love

 Love is so fascinating to read and write about. This Love resides within Everyone's Hearts! Vaheguru exists everywhere and permeates in the Form of Love. Dhan Dhan Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj describe This Form in Jaap Sahib:

ਜੱਤ੍ਰ ਤੱਤ੍ਰ ਦਿਸਾ ਵਿਸਾ; ਹੁਇ ਫੈਲਿਓ ਅਨੁਰਾਗ ॥੮੦॥
Jathr Thathr Dhisaa Visaa Hue[i] Phailio Anuraag
[Vaheguru] spreads as Love -- Here! There! In Every Direction!
(Chhand 80)

We can view it from various different lenses. The experiences of love vary from person to person but there is a consistency to Love. These 'Heartbeats' are intended to help us understand Love as something beyond our understanding and existence. True Love is Divine Love.
 We give a lot of value to love but why? There is an unexplainable pull to love.
Love is something you can try to explain logically but no one will really listen to you if it was explained in this way. If we told a psychology professor or a neuroscientist that we were in love, they might begin by talking about the release of certain hormones then the balances and imbalances of chemicals. They could go on for hours and hours to make perfectly logical sense yet we feel that these words mean very little in understanding how we feel. It seems the only way they could understand our feelings is if they had experienced the same. A scientific theory provides an unfulfilling means of explaining love. The same goes for spirituality.
 There are schools filled with theologists/professors writing about faith & spirituality but the majority of them are missing out on the Divine Essence. What is this Divine Essence? The best way to understand is to use worldly love (crushes and romance) as an analogy to Divine Love.
 In the process of falling in love, there are often these passionate emotions that we begin to develop.
 When we listen to poetry and music – in contrast to academic journals – daas feels as if the poet has understood the crashing waves of love and is empathetic to our experiences. We may have spent hours upon hours listening to songs that made us feel like the artist knew exactly what we were going through. Daas realized that this music was led by the artist’s own rollercoaster of pleasure and pain but their experiences never came to an enlightening conclusion.
 However, there was a push from within to attempt to make sense of these emotions. All of these feelings and experiences should lead to something meaningful for a human's existence on this earth.
 Maharaj did Kirpa and daas reached clarity from this desire: Gurbani is in the Form of Divine Poetry arranged in Music (Raags). We CAN be guided through poetry and music. We were just listening to the song & tunes of those who were lost themselves.  
 Gurbani Ji is the Ultimate Love Letter; reading even one Shabad allows us to awaken to This Love. Daas cannot bow his head enough times to the Love which entered into his life through Guru Sahib. All other songs are faint whispers in comparison to the powerful sound of Gurbani.
 There is a Shabad by Bhagat Kabeer Ji in Raag Basant that narrates Bhagat Prahlad Ji’s emotions of Love towards Vaheguru:

ਪ੍ਰਹਲਾਦ ਪਠਾਏ ਪੜਨ ਸਾਲ ॥
Prahlaadh Pattaa-ae Parrn Saal
Bhagat Prahlaad Ji was sent to a school,
ਸੰਗਿ ਸਖਾ ਬਹੁ ਲੀਏ ਬਾਲ ॥
Sa[n]g[i] Sakhaa Bah[u] Leeae Baal
Bhagat Ji brought his friends along with him
ਮੋ ਕਉ ਕਹਾ ਪੜਾ੍ਵਸਿ ਆਲ ਜਾਲ ॥
Mo Ko Kahaa Parrhaavas[i] Aal Jaal
[Asking the teachers:] Why are you teaching me about other [irrelevant] things?
ਮੇਰੀ ਪਟੀਆ ਲਿਖਿ ਦੇਹੁ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੋੁਪਾਲ ॥੧॥
Maeree Pateeaa Likh[i] Dhaeh[u] Sree Gopaal
Write the Name of Vaheguru (Sri Gopaal) on my chalkboard/tablet.
(Ang 1194)

This Shabad reminds daas of the theologists/professors trying to explain Sikhi as if it were a subject in school. They don't know about this Love. They have not experienced it. This Divine Love can only be experienced firsthand. The Lovers know what Love is. Let us beg for this Love and slowly unpack this Divine relationship through the world of Love.
–
Guru Panth Da Daas,
Aaeenaa