Salok Sehskritee, Salok 22 — Remembering Burns the Load

ਘੋਰ ਦੁਖ੍ਯ੍ਯੰ ਅਨਿਕ ਹਤ੍ਯ੍ਯੰ ਜਨਮ ਦਾਰਿਦ੍ਰੰ ਮਹਾ ਬਿਖ੍ਯ੍ਯਾਦੰ ॥

ghor dukh-ya^N anik hat-ya^N janam daaridara^N mahaa bikh-yaad^N.

Excruciating pain, countless killings, reincarnation, poverty and terrible misery

ਮਿਟੰਤ ਸਗਲ ਸਿਮਰੰਤ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮ ਨਾਨਕ ਜੈਸੇ ਪਾਵਕ ਕਾਸਟ ਭਸਮੰ ਕਰੋਤਿ ॥੧੮॥

mitant sagal simrant har naam naanak jaisay paavak kaasat bhasma^N karot. ||18||

are all destroyed by meditating in remembrance on the Lord's Name, O Nanak, just as fire reduces piles of wood to ashes. ||18||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

Terrible pain, the wrong of many killings, being born again and again, being poor, and great sorrow —

Nanak says: all of these are wiped away by remembering the Naam of the One, just as fire turns a pile of wood to ash.

Remembering the One burns through the biggest pile of trouble.

The deeper layer

Remembering the One can burn away even the heaviest pile of trouble.

The verse names the worst things people carry. Ghor dukh-yan, deep pain. Anik hat-yan, the wrong of many killings. Janam, going around and around through lives. Being poor. Great sadness. Then it says all of these are wiped away by simran, loving remembrance of the Naam.

The picture is a campfire. You can stack a huge pile of dry wood, and the fire turns all of it to ash. The fire does not tiptoe around the pile. It changes it.

That is the point here. Remembering the One does not just hide our troubles. It changes them. Even the biggest heap can be burned clean.

A Question to Sit With

When trouble piles up, what is one small way you can turn toward something steady instead of carrying it all?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

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