Sikhism·Opening Banis·So Purakh, Shabad 2
Verse 4 of 5

They Alone Understand Whom You Inspire to Understand

ਜਿਸ ਨੋ ਤੂ ਜਾਣਾਇਹਿ ਸੋਈ ਜਨੁ ਜਾਣੈ ॥
jis no too jaanaa-ihi so-ee jan jaanai.
They alone understand, whom You inspire to understand;
ਹਰਿ ਗੁਣ ਸਦ ਹੀ ਆਖਿ ਵਖਾਣੈ ॥
har gun sad hee aakh vakhaanai.
they continually chant and repeat the Lord's Praises.
ਜਿਨਿ ਹਰਿ ਸੇਵਿਆ ਤਿਨਿ ਸੁਖੁ ਪਾਇਆ ॥
jin har sayvi-aa tin sukh paa-i-aa.
Those who serve You find peace.
ਸਹਜੇ ਹੀ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮਿ ਸਮਾਇਆ ॥੩॥
sehjay hee har naam samaa-i-aa. ||3||
They are intuitively absorbed into the Lord's Name. ||3||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

Those who understand — the ones who continually chant and live in the Name — they understand because You inspired them to understand.

Those who serve You find peace. They are absorbed, naturally and without force, into the Name.

Even the capacity to understand comes from the oneness — understanding is itself a form of grace.
The deeper layer

Even the capacity to understand the oneness is a gift from the oneness. This closes every remaining gap: it is not that some people are smart enough or spiritual enough to understand and others are not. The understanding itself, when it comes, comes as grace. This is humbling in the best sense — it removes the ego from the equation entirely, including the ego that is proud of having understood.

A Question to Sit With

Have you ever understood something suddenly that you could not understand before — not because you tried harder but because something just opened? What was that like?

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

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