Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When a Sikh turns to face the Guru with a sincere heart — sanmukh, like a sunflower turned toward the sun —
when a Sikh turns to face the Guru with a sincere heart, that Sikh's soul stays with the Guru.
In the heart, the Sikh keeps the Guru's lotus feet in mind, and thinks of the Guru deep inside.
Setting aside selfishness and pride, the Sikh stays always on the Guru's side and knows no one but the Guru.
Nanak says: listen, holy friends — such a Sikh turns to face the Guru with a sincere heart and becomes sanmukh.
Jay ko sikh guroo saytee sanmukh hovai — "if a Sikh turns sanmukh, face-to-face, toward the Guru." Everything turns on one untranslatable posture-word. Sanmukh (san-mukh: 'with the face toward') names total orientation: the disciple whose whole being faces the teacher. Its opposite arrives in the very next verse: baymukh/vaimukh, the one whose face is turned away. Between these two words, Anand Sahib compresses its entire account of discipleship — not belief versus disbelief, but orientation versus aversion. The same sun; a face turned toward it or away from it.
The inner anatomy of sanmukh is given precisely: the soul abides with the Guru (jee-ahu rahai gur naalay); the Guru's feet are held in the heart (gur kay charan hirdai Dhi-aa-ay — the traditional idiom of humble devotion, here explicitly internalized: the feet are in the heart, not the forehead on the floor); and the decisive renunciation — aap chhad — abandoning self-will, resting on the Guru (sadaa rahai parnai — parnai: leaning upon, supported by), knowing no other.
Sanmukh is the posture that makes grace receivable — verse 8 said only those receive to whom it is given; this verse describes what the receivers look like. The turning does not earn the gift, but the gift lands on the turned. In the Nanak Naam idiom: the sun does not choose whom to shine on; the sunflower chooses which way to face.
When someone teaches you something important, are you facing them with your whole attention — or only halfway?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI