Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O my mind, stay with the One, always.
Stay with the One, my mind, and all your troubles will be forgotten.
The One will take you in as its very own, and everything you need to do will be set right.
The Master can do all things. So why let the One slip from your mind?
Nanak says: O my mind, stay with the One, always.
Announcement turns to instruction, and the address moves inward: ay man mayri-aa — "O my mind." Much of Anand Sahib is spoken directly to the mind, the body, the eyes, the ears, the tongue — a roll call of the whole person, each part summoned and re-tuned. The refrain here, sadaa rahu har naalay ("remain always with the Lord"), is remembrance as dwelling: not visiting the One occasionally in prayer, but living there.
The promise attached — dookh sabh visaarnaa, all sufferings forgotten — is carefully worded. Sufferings are not abolished; they are forgotten, they lose their grip, because the mind's attention has a new home. This matches the bani's later diagnosis (verse 29) that Maya is whatever makes us forget. Forgetting the One is the disease; forgetting our sorrows in the One is the cure. Angeekaar oh karay — "He will accept you as His own" — is the language of adoption and belonging: grace takes the initiative once the mind turns.
For the Deeper Layer reader: this is also where Anand Sahib quietly teaches its method. Bliss (verse 1) is not sustained by mood but by abiding — the repeated, patient return of attention. Guru Amar Das does not scold the wandering mind; he speaks to it like a beloved child, twice calling it "my mind" and closing with the same tenderness. The tone is the teaching.
Where does your mind run when it wanders — and what would it feel like to gently walk it home?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI