My Master’s Touch

I reached out to touch Him with my nose
and nickered a soft welcome.
I hungered for that tingly chill and delightful warmth
which spread through my body
whenever He touched me or looked into my eyes.
I had begun to live for my Master’s touch.

– Lynda Nelson

Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Master, was famed for his blue-colored horse. He was known as ‘Neelay ghoray vala,’ or the owner of the blue horse. The two had a very special bond.

Horses are known to be very sentient beings. Imagine what Neela must have felt when His Master touched him, let alone rode him. How blessed Neela must have been to have had the opportunity to serve such a Master.

Something very remarkable is said to have happened at the time of the Master’s cremation. The funeral pyre of Guru Gobind Singh had been constructed in the form of a hut and He is said to have ridden into the funeral pyre on His horse Neela. After any cremation, some remains of the physical body are always left behind. However, in this case, absolutely nothing is said to have been found – no ashes of either the Master or His horse.

Inspired by the above poem, written from the horse’s perspective, this pastel and pen painting reflects on the presence of the Divine in the horse that stemmed from his Master’s Touch.

The word, Waheguru – ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ – is pronounced “Wah-hay-guroo”. Wahmeans Infinite, hay means Thou, and Guru means Higher Self, or the Divine Teacher within each sentient being.

This is the mantra which has been lovingly handwritten minutely in the painting to portray the omnipresent Divine energy.