Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O simple one, let go of the proud mind that keeps saying I, me, mine.
Quiet your ego, and think of the One in your mind. Gather up the good qualities of the One, who is full of goodness, the way you would gather flowers.
Put down the heavy "me, me, me," and pick up what is good.
This is the rahaa-o, the pause line, the center of the shabad, the line you keep coming back to. Haumai means ego (haumai — the feeling of being a separate self). It is the feeling that you are all alone and cut off from everything else. Guru Nanak does not say that you are bad. He says that feeling of being separate is heavy. It is like a backpack full of rocks, and you can set it down.
Gun vich gun lai saar means gather the good qualities of the One, who is full of goodness. So the backpack gets emptied of rocks and filled with good things instead: kindness, patience, truth. The noise of "me and mine" gets quieter, and the goodness grows.
What is one good quality you would like to gather more of, the way you might collect something you love?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI