Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Then the One brought the Iron Age. Goodness lost three feet, and only the fourth still stands.
Living by the Guru's Word, we find the medicine of the Name. Singing the One's praise brings peace.
The season for singing praise has come. The Name is honored, and it grows in the field of the body.
In this age, if you plant any seed but the Name, you lose all your profit and even what you started with.
Servant Nanak has found the Perfect Guru, who showed him the Name in his heart and mind.
Then the One brought the Iron Age, and goodness stood on one foot.
This one says our own hard age has the simplest medicine of all.
The fourth age is Kali Yuga, the Iron or Dark Age, pictured as our own time. It sounds like the low point. "Pag tarai khiskee-aa" — three feet have slipped, and goodness stands on only one.
But then comes a big surprise, the reason the shabad was sung. This hardest age has the easiest cure. "Gur sabad kamaa-i-aa a-ukhaDh har paa-i-aa" — living by the Guru's Word (Shabad), you find the One's medicine. That medicine is the Name. And "har keerat rut aa-ee" — the season for singing the One's praise, called Kirtan, has come.
In the Golden Age, people needed deep meditation and hard self-discipline. Now you only need to sing and remember together. A child can do that. A farmer can. Anyone can.
The shabad uses a farming picture too. Plant the Name in the field of the body, and it grows. Plant any other seed, and all the profit is lost, even what you started with.
Think of a garden in a dry year. The weather is hard, but one simple seed still grows if you plant it.
So the "worst" age turns out to be the most open and hopeful one. It is the age when the door is widest, and everyone is welcome.
Why might singing and remembering together be something absolutely anyone can do?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI