Take the Teaching In and the Mind Opens Sky-Wide
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
**G** — someone who really takes the teacher's words to heart stays with them. They don't get pulled this way and that by every other voice clamoring for attention.
They become steady and content, at home wherever they are. They don't need to run off anywhere. They hold fast to the One that seems impossible to hold. And so they come to rest in a wide, open, sky-like clarity inside themselves.
Someone who truly takes in the Guru's words stops chasing every other voice. Their mind opens as wide as the sky.
This verse belongs to the letter Gagga, and it begins with gur, the teacher. Gagaa gur kay bachan pachhaanaa — they recognize the Guru's words and live by them. That brings a lovely focus. Doojee baat na dhar-ee kaanaa — they do not lend an ear to "the second thing." The second thing is all the other chatter that pulls you this way and that. Picture a phone buzzing with a hundred notifications. This person has found the one message that matters.
The word bihamgam is often read as "like a hermit." But the heart of it is being content inside. They need nothing outside to feel whole. It is not about running away from people.
The last line holds a puzzle. Agah gahai — they grasp the Ungraspable. And they dwell in gagan, the inner sky. That is the wide, open awareness Gurbani calls the Tenth Gate, the inner doorway to the One. You hold the One by opening wider, not by gripping tighter.
When lots of voices are telling you different things, whose words do you choose to really take to heart?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI