Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O dear mind, keep the True One close, always.
This family you see around you will not go along with you.
They cannot go along with you, so why give them all your attention?
Don't do anything you will be sorry for in the end.
Listen to the teachings of the True Guru — these will go along with you.
Nanak says: O dear mind, keep the True One close, always.
Ay man pi-aari-aa too sadaa sach samaalay — "O beloved mind, dwell on the True forever." Then comes the thing every tradition must eventually say and every family flinches at: ayhu kutamb too je daykh-daa chalai naahee tayrai naalay — this family you see will not go along with you. Anand Sahib is sung at funerals, and lines like this are why it can be. It speaks the fact of separation before grief forces the issue.
Handled carefully, the teaching is not anti-family — Guru Amar Das was a householder Guru, and verse 17 will declare the devotee's mother, father, and whole family purified along with them. The point is about what accompanies the soul: relationships, however precious, are companions for a stretch of road; the satguru kaa updays — the True Guru's teaching — is the companion that crosses every threshold, including the last one. Attention (chit laa-ee-ai) is the currency in question: why invest it only where no account can follow?
The practical line lands hardest: aisaa kamm moolay na keechai jit ant pachhotaa-ee-ai — never do the deed you will regret at the end. This is memento mori as ethics: live now from the deathbed's vantage. The Aasaa shabads made the same move ("you are a guest; all is lent"). Loving much, holding lightly, and stocking the heart with what travels — this is the verse's whole counsel.
If you could pack only what fits inside your heart for a long journey, what would you pack?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI