ਅਲਪ (alap)
Meaning: adjective: Untouched, untainted.
Quote:
ਭੋਜਨੰ ਗੋਪਾਲ ਕੀਰਤਨੰ ਅਲਪ ਮਾਯਾ ਜਲ ਕਮਲ ਰਹਤਹ॥
bhojnanǧ gopaal keertananǧ alap maayaa jal kamal rahtah.
(Fourth trait of saintly persons): Making the praise of the Divine as spiritual food and remaining untouched by Maya, like the lotus remains in the water. –Guru Arjan Sahib, Guru Granth Sahib, 1357
Message: Floating blissfully above mud
Have you seen a lotus growing in a pond? It is always unaffected by the surroundings it breeds in.
This verse tells us about what spiritual food saintly persons consume and how they live in this world without being influenced by temptations and enticements.
Everyone including spiritually oriented people need food to sustain themselves on this earth. However, spiritually oriented people also make arrangements for the food their spirits need.
The food of spiritual learning: truth, wisdom, virtue, and love. This spiritual nourishment is as much essential for the mind as food for the body.
Likewise, spiritual seekers remain detached from the negative and unwanted influence of worldly temptations and traps.
Do we also make efforts to partake in spiritual food? Do we also learn to live like a lotus? The choice is ours.
Etymology: Blend of a (negating prefix) + lap/lip/lep, modification of lipat from Sanskrit lipta → Prakrit lippa (smeared).
Image: a pink lotus flower source: By Asher Communications (Own work) [CC BY 3.0] via Wikimedia commons
