Pattern:
As our primate ancestors took their first steps in a world rent apart by the dichotomy of prey and predator they found safe haven in the higher reaches of the simple tree. This static giant with its expansive canopy not only provided them with sustenance in the form of fruit but also armed them (sharpened sticks), warmed them (firewood) and even clothed them (bark). While seemingly mundane, the tree ingratiated itself into our embryonic psyche to such a profound degree that it was ultimately personified by the more creative among us as possessing human traits-both the positive and the negative. Over time the humble tree has become one of our foremost metaphorical vehicles through which to convey our musings on vice, virtue and even morality.
The Straight vs. The Crooked:
Prior to the Sikh Gurus the most apt utilization of the tree as a literary metaphor in subcontinental writings was accomplished by the political realist Kautilya (or Chanakya), the alleged author of the Arthshastra. Less religious than modern Indian culture would have us believe, Kautilya grounded his observations in reality rather than in spiritual esotericism. To paraphrase him:
“Observe the forest. The taller trees are cut first and taken away by Carpenters. The Crooked trees are cut last.”
-Arthshastra.
The hair-splitting this verse induces among modern readers is emblematic of Kautilya’s divided legacy. Is he eschewing integrity for exploitation or is he cautioning vigilance? Different readers; different interpretations.
Guru Nanak:
Rejecting the notion of this world being false, Guru Nanak-the progenitor of the Khalsa and Sikhi-emphasized that reality (Hukam) be made the primary medium of learning while living life. To this end observation and empirical interaction became the foremost tools for his Sikhs to comprehend the world around them. Within his sectioned writings he transcends Kautilya’s usage of trees as simple metaphors. Rather, he personifies them to reflect human attributes whether negative or positive. Take for example his synchronization of the Simal tree (Bombax ceiba) with a visionless individual.
ਸਿੰਮਲ ਰੁਖੁ ਸਰਾਇਰਾ ਅਤਿ ਦੀਰਘ ਅਤਿ ਮੁਚੁ ॥
ਓਇ ਜਿ ਆਵਹਿ ਆਸ ਕਰਿ ਜਾਹਿ ਨਿਰਾਸੇ ਕਿਤੁ ॥
ਫਲ ਫਿਕੇ ਫੁਲ ਬਕਬਕੇ ਕੰਮਿ ਨ ਆਵਹਿ ਪਤ ॥
ਮਿਠਤੁ ਨੀਵੀ ਨਾਨਕਾ ਗੁਣ ਚੰਗਿਆਈਆ ਤਤੁ ॥
ਸਭੁ ਕੋ ਨਿਵੈ ਆਪ ਕਉ ਪਰ ਕਉ ਨਿਵੈ ਨ ਕੋਇ ॥
ਧਰਿ ਤਾਰਾਜੂ ਤੋਲੀਐ ਨਿਵੈ ਸੁ ਗਉਰਾ ਹੋਇ ॥
ਅਪਰਾਧੀ ਦੂਣਾ ਨਿਵੈ ਜੋ ਹੰਤਾ ਮਿਰਗਾਹਿ ॥
ਸੀਸਿ ਨਿਵਾਇਐ ਕਿਆ ਥੀਐ ਜਾ ਰਿਦੈ ਕੁਸੁਧੇ ਜਾਹਿ ॥੧॥
“Observe the Simal tree; witness its narrow rigidity and erect posture. Yet anything which approaches it departs dejected because the Simal’s fruit is tasteless and its flowers foul. Humility is the sweetness, Nanak, from which all other virtues emanate. Everyone is preoccupied in exposing the other as low but none is ready to witness their own lowness. Yet on any scale only that side descends low which is made heavy. The transgressor is the one who bows down twice as much like the hunter stalking the deer. Yet bowing itself is obsolete when the heart is polluted fully.”
-Guru Granth, 470.
The Simal tree is a rarity. Its erectness is an evolutionary trait. On the genetic front its genes pushed for height and stiffness leading it to grow above other trees. Yet this very same adaptation has derived it of the ability to bear sweet fruit. Without birds consuming its produce and then spreading its seeds its genetic longevity is radically constrained. Put simply growing tall not only ensures it is the first tree to be decapitated for human needs but also damns it to be outnumbered by its more crooked counterparts which bear sweeter fruit.
Offset:
The Simal tree in the aforementioned verse signifies human haughtiness and hubris. Even virtue can become venomous over time if humility is not cultivated as a necessary antidote alongside it. Humility here does not imply enforced apathy in the face of life’s conflicts and travails. It defines modesty in face of the unknown; an acceptance of one’s own finite existence and reality’s infinity. By no stretch of the imagination can it be made the Dil-Saaf perversion of the term which holds it to be the act of kowtowing to every other leftist woke agenda. Humility, in the Sikh ethos, means accepting reality and living within its unalterable parameters from minute to minute; second to second.
The Simal’s virtues is its straightness. Yet its bitter fruit reflects the fact that it retains no vision for the future. Evolutionary biologist and staunch atheist (yes, we are referencing an atheist) Richard Dawkins provides an intelligible explanation to explain this phenomena:
(a) Evolution works in offsets.
(b) Organisms which favor their present existence over their genetic longevity (ensured through reproduction) forfeit their future for their present.
(c) Organisms which favor their genetic longevity forfeit their present for their future.
(d) These offsets inform the physical representation of each organism in front of us.
Put simply, the Simal’s rigidity is beneficial in the sense it allows it to derive more sunlight than its counterparts given its height. But this disallows it from focusing upon its future which can only be ensured through reproduction via the medium of sweet fruit and seed dispersal (read birds). The offset here is that the Simal receives more sustenance in its present but its future remains vague.
Let us simplify the metaphor further. Just like the Simal believes its rigidity to be its virtue, similarly a haughty individual believes some superficial attribute of theirs to be a virtue. The Simal sacrifices its future legacy, its offspring, for its present self-worship. It fails to discern its own weakness being too preoccupied in showing other trees as being low. Similarly the self-centred individual is blinded by their present delusions to consider the future realistically. Bereft of humility, they lack the ability to accept and adapt to the reality of whatever situation life throws at them. Their hypocrisy heavy, such individuals might feign modesty but in reality they are anything but modest. Much like the hunter bowing twice while stalking deer, such transgressors similarly hunt out the incredulous and the gullible to prey upon.
A Political Comment:
Kautilya is concerned with political expression. Guru Nanak focuses on the individual’s innate reformation. The Arthshastra expresses a sardonic reality. The Guru Granth focuses on the innate reason, the impetus, as to why a certain person becomes Simal-like and how to restore them to a more intelligent state. In Guru Nanak’s equation the Simal is cut down before its crooked counterparts due to its lack of vision for the future. Its inability to see beyond its own arrogance damns it to the Carpenter’s saw. From a political standpoint these words of Guru Nanak also castigate myopic leaders blinded by their own prowess unable to perceive their inefficiency. Kautilya utilizes and discards the metaphor of trees after cautioning that Simal-like rigidity be avoided. Guru Nanak diagnosis as to why this rigidity afflicts the psyche thus providing a means to avoid and/or overcome it when need be.
Conclusion:
Straight trees get cut down first; crooked trees last. Stiffened by their arrogance, the delusional individuals fail to discern their imminent fall and succumb to the temptations of the present. They are cut down by their own hand. The High and Mighty fall while the humble remain forever ascendant; their legacy spreading far beyond their own time. Such is the nature of Hukam which is our reality. Will we emulate the Simal or its lower but more fertile counterparts? The ball dear readers, as usual, is in our court and not another’s.