Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In this age, the Guru-ward are the pure ones — absorbed in love of the True Name.
Without the destiny of grace, nothing is obtained — what more can anyone say or do?
Grace is a gift, and no formula can force it.
The verse's second line sounds almost like a shrug, and the shrug is the teaching. Vin karmaa kichh paa-ee-ai nahee — without the gift of grace, nothing is received. Karmaa here means what has been granted, the One's kindness. Ki-aa kar kahi-aa jaa-ay — what can anyone say or do? Guru Amar Das is a careful, step-by-step teacher. Yet here he pauses in the middle of the hymn to admit what teaching cannot do. No formula forces the gift.
But the shrug is not giving up. It is honesty, and honesty keeps faith humble. Think of planting a garden. You can dig, water, and weed, but you cannot make the rain fall.
The first line names what is within reach. Gurmukh nirmalay — the Gurmukhs, those who face the Guru, are pure. They stay absorbed in love of the True Name. Being among them is where the gift, when it comes, finds its home.
What in your life came entirely as a gift — nothing you said or did produced it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI