Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
This whole world is smudged with stains.
Only the One is spotless, the One who has no end and no edge.
Only the One is spotless; everything that is made shares the same dust.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. Mailaa maltaa ih sansaar: this world is stained through and through. Ik har nirmal: only the One is nirmal, spotless, the opposite of mailaa. Jaa kaa ant na paar: the One has no end and no limit. The world is still good to live in. Being wholly spotless simply belongs to the One alone, so no ritual and no birth can manufacture it. Purity grows from closeness to the One, and that is open to everyone.
If nobody can be “born pure,” what do you think makes a person good?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI