Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
True is the Shabad, and True is the Bani —
in every age, the Gurmukhs have spoken it and lived it aloud.
The self-willed stay deluded by attachment and doubt.
Without the Name, everyone wanders as if insane.
The true Word has been passed down in every age, and without it the mind runs in circles.
Gurmukh jug jug aakh vakhaanee — age after age, the Gurmukhs, those who face the Guru, speak it and share it. Jug means an age. Ideas and fashions come and go. The Bani, the Guru's Word, never needs updating, because Sach, Truth, does not grow old. Think of a relay race where the same baton passes from runner to runner, down the years.
Against this stands a hard mirror: bin naavai sabh firai ba-uraanee — without the Name, everyone wanders around crazed. The manmukh, the one who follows only his own mind, is fooled by attachment and doubt. It sounds harsh. Then you look at any day's news, or at any mind, our own too, running its loops of wanting and grumbling. Being truly steady and sane is not where people start. It grows from remembering the One.
What does a truly sane life look like to you — and who do you know who lives one?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI