ਮੁਸਕ (musak)
Meaning: noun: Fragrance or stench?
Quote:
ਰਸੀਆ ਹੋਵੈ ਮੁਸਕ ਕਾ ਤਬ ਫੂਲੁ ਪਛਾਣੈ॥
rasee-aa hovai musak kaa tab phool pachhaṇai.
If one is an admirer of fragrance (knows the nature of fragrance) only then can one recognize the flower (origin of the smell). -Guru Nanak Sahib, Guru Granth Sahib, Page 725
Message: This verse says that only one who is a lover of fragrance, who can appreciate the smell of a particular fragrance, can recognize its flowers (the source of the fragrance). To appreciate divine values, one needs to be able to appreciate the worth of these values.
Only a dedicated person knows and recognizes the power that emanates from the Creator and that lies in us. Such a person discovers that the mind is the embodiment of the Divine, and strives to unlock its dormant potential.
We need to learn to harness our enormous power and potential. The jewel of divine wisdom is within our hearts, but due to ignorance we fail to realize and be aware of its existence close by.
In modern Punjabi, its meaning has totally reversed, from fragrance to stench.
Etymology: From Persian mushk (musk), a glandular secretion from the musk deer.
The word actually originates from the Late Greek moskhos, from Persian mushk, from Sanskrit mushk (testicle, scrotum), from Latin mus (mouse – presumably, for resemblance).
Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a penetrating odour obtained from a gland thought to resemble a scrotum of the male musk deer.
(See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk)
