Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The way the devotees live is different from every other way.
The devotees' way is different. They walk the hardest path.
They set down grabbing, greed, pride and wanting, and they don't talk too much.
The path they walk is sharper than a two-edged sword and thinner than a hair.
By the Guru's grace they let go of their selfishness, and their hopes melt into the One.
Nanak says: in every age, the way the devotees live is different from every other way.
Bhagtaa kee chaal niraalee — "the way of the devotees is unique." Chaal is gait, way of walking, lifestyle; niraalee is distinct, set apart. Then comes Gurbani's most famous image of the spiritual path's difficulty: khanni-ahu tikhee vaalahu nikee — sharper than the double-edged sword (khanda), finer than a hair. The image is ancient (the Upanishads' razor's edge; Kabir uses it too), but here the sharpness is defined precisely by what must be renounced: lab lobh ahaNkaar taj tarisnaa — greed, avarice, egotism, craving — and, strikingly, bahut naahee bolnaa — not talking too much. Restraint of speech sits in the same list as conquest of ego; the bani keeps its suspicion of babble (verses 16, 24).
The resolution line explains how a blade can be walked at all: gur parsaadee jinee aap taji-aa — by grace, they have shed the self. The path is narrow only for the one carrying an ego; set down the self and the walker no longer wobbles, because there is no bulky "I" left to fall. Har vaasnaa samaanee — their hopes/longings are merged in the One (vaasnaa: the deep residue of desire — even that is absorbed).
The closing line universalizes: jugahu jug — age upon age, the devotees' way is the same. Fashion changes; the narrow path does not. This portrait-verse belongs with Aasaa's portraits of the Saints: the more slandered, the more at peace; traders whose Banker is God; distinct not by costume but by lightness.
What's one heavy thing — a habit, a grudge, a need to show off — that would make walking easier if you set it down?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI