Sikhism·Dakhnee Onkaar·Shabad 111
Verse 5 of 55

The Song I Almost Refused to Hear

ਙਿਆਨੁ ਗਵਾਇਆ ਦੂਜਾ ਭਾਇਆ ਗਰਬਿ ਗਲੇ ਬਿਖੁ ਖਾਇਆ ॥
nyi-aan gavaa-i-aa doojaa bhaa-i-aa garab galay bikh khaa-i-aa.
In love with duality, spiritual wisdom is lost; the mortal rots away in pride, and eats poison.
ਗੁਰ ਰਸੁ ਗੀਤ ਬਾਦ ਨਹੀ ਭਾਵੈ ਸੁਣੀਐ ਗਹਿਰ ਗੰਭੀਰੁ ਗਵਾਇਆ ॥
gur ras geet baad nahee bhaavai sunee-ai gahir gambheer gavaa-i-aa.
He thinks that the sublime essence of the Guru's song is useless, and he does not like to hear it. He loses the profound, unfathomable Lord.
ਗੁਰਿ ਸਚੁ ਕਹਿਆ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਲਹਿਆ ਮਨਿ ਤਨਿ ਸਾਚੁ ਸੁਖਾਇਆ ॥
gur sach kahi-aa amrit lahi-aa man tan saach sukhaa-i-aa.
Through the Guru's Words of Truth, the Ambrosial Nectar is obtained, and the mind and body find joy in the True Lord.
ਆਪੇ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਆਪੇ ਦੇਵੈ ਆਪੇ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਪੀਆਇਆ ॥੪॥
aapay gurmukh aapay dayvai aapay amrit pee-aa-i-aa. ||4||
He Himself is the Gurmukh, and He Himself bestows the Ambrosial Nectar; He Himself leads us to drink it in. ||4||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

In love with "two" — me here, the One far away — a person loses clear seeing, wastes away in pride, and swallows poison.

The sweet song of the Guru doesn't please such a person; they don't want to hear it, and so they lose the deep, endless One.

Through the Guru's true words the nectar is found, and mind and body are glad in the True One.

The One is there in the one who turns toward the Guru; the One gives the nectar, and the One leads us to drink it.

The same grace that wakes you is the grace that feeds you — you receive it, you don't manufacture it.
The deeper layer

The letter Nyanya. Dooja bhaa-i-aa — the love of duality, of separateness, is the root of losing gi-aan (clear seeing). Pride is pictured as a poison, a sickness to heal. The grace-grammar is explicit: aapay gurmukh aapay dayvai — the One both gives the awakening and gives the drinking.

A Question to Sit With

Was there something beautiful you almost ignored, until it reached you anyway?

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

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