Salok Sehskritee, Salok 13 — Everything Fades but One
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Beauty fades. Islands fade. The sun, the moon, the stars and the sky fade.
The earth, the mountains, the forests and the lands fade.
Husband or wife, children, brothers and dear friends fade.
Gold and jewels and all the dazzling beauty of the world fade.
Only the Lord of the World, the Undying One, does not fade.
Nanak says: only the humble holy people stay steady forever.
Everything we can see fades in time; only the Undying One stays, and those who are rooted in the One become steady too.
Ghatant means "it fades, it wears away," and the salok repeats it again and again: beauty, islands, sun, moon, stars, sky, earth, mountains, forests, family, gold and jewels. Even the things that seem most solid slowly wear away.
Nah ghatant kayval gopaal achut: only the Undying Lord of the World does not fade. Asthiran naanak saaDh jan: and the humble holy people, rooted in the One, stay steady.
What is one thing you have been treating as permanent that is passing — and what could you root in instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI