ਅਕ (ak)
Meaning: noun: The swallow-wort, a poisonous desert plant.
Quote:
ਖਖੜੀਆ ਸੁਹਾਵੀਆ ਲਗੜੀਆ ਅਕ ਕੰਠਿ॥ ਬਿਰਹ ਵਿਛੋੜਾ ਧਣੀ ਸਿਉ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਹਸੈ ਗੰਠਿ॥
khakhaṛeeaa suhaaveeaa lagaṛeeaa ak kaňṭh.
birah vichhoṛaa dhaṇee siu naanak sahsai gaňṭh.
The fruits of the swallow-wort plant look beautiful attached to its neck. Nanak! But when they are separated from their master, they break apart into thousands of fragments. – Guru Arjan Sahib, Guru Granth Sahib, 319
Message: The verse cites a very beautiful example to explain what happens when we get separated from our root, the Creator, or laws of nature.
The fruits of the swallow-wort plant look beauteous only as long as they are attached to it. However, they scatter into a thousand pieces when plucked from the branches of the plant. Similar is the separation from our Master, the Divine. We become spiritually dead, have no universal values, when we forget and forsake the divine spark in us.
We are never at peace with ourselves or our surroundings. We are in dilemmas and anxiety. Only when we are reattached and immersed in the love of the Divine, can we become beautiful and blissful.
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence. -Hal Borland, an American author, journalist and naturalist, 1900 – 1978
Etymology: From Sanskrit ark (the plant, Calotropis gigantea) → Pali → Prakrit akk → Sindhi aku, Lahndi and Punjabi akk/ak.
