Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some purchase virtues and sell away their faults — through the Guru, in effortless ease.
Serving the Guru they obtain the Name — and it comes to dwell deep inside.
The best trade there is: give away your faults and take on good qualities.
This verse uses a market picture that runs both ways at once. Ik gun vihaajheh a-ugan viknahi — some buy gun, good qualities, and sell off augan, faults. What a deal! It is the one trade where you gain by getting rid of what you have too much of.
And it happens sahj subhaa-ay, with natural ease. This is Guru Amar Das's favorite way. It is not the tense, gritted-teeth kind of self-improvement. It is the easy trade of someone serving the Guru. Faults lose their value and drop away. Good qualities build up like savings in a piggy bank. Think of swapping a heavy backpack of junk for one small, useful tool. The profit comes home to live: vuthaa andar aa-ay, the Name settles deep inside.
If you could sell one fault and buy one virtue today, what would the trade be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI