Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O Baba, dear Father, only the one You give to receives it.
Only the one You give to receives it. What can the other poor souls do on their own?
Some are lost in doubt, wandering in all ten directions at once. Some are made beautiful by holding on to the Naam.
By the Guru's grace, the mind becomes clean and clear for those who love the flow of the One's will.
Nanak says: only the one You give to receives it, O Beloved.
Baabaa jis too deh so-ee jan paavai — "O Baba, they alone receive, to whom You give." Baba — father, elder, dear one — softens what could sound like hard doctrine. Here is grace at its most uncompromising: receiving depends on giving, and the others, the vaychaari-aa (poor wretches), can do nothing of themselves. As in Japji's pauri on hukam, the spiritual résumé falls apart. No one earns this.
But the verse immediately shows the two lives this produces: ik bharam bhoolay fireh dah dis — some wander deluded in the ten directions (the classic image of the scattered mind: all compass points plus up and down, everywhere except here) — while others, naam laag savaari-aa, are made beautiful by attachment to the Name. And the resolution names the condition of the clean mind: jinaa bhaanaa bhaav-ay — those to whom the Will is pleasing. By Guru's grace the mind becomes nirmal (immaculate) — for those who love what the One is doing. Acceptance is not resignation; it is the open hand into which the gift can be placed.
Held with verse 7 (bliss known only through the Guru), a sequence emerges: bliss is unearnable, given, and received precisely by those who stop grasping. The paradox is the point: you cannot take the gift; you can only stop being closed to it. The curtains do not create sunlight; they only decide whether it enters.
What's the difference between chasing something and being ready to receive it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI