Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When we finally understand, the loud grasping self grows quiet — and that's when real life begins.
Sometimes we drift and forget; sometimes we wake up and see clearly — and grace stirs the waking.
Let the me-first self go gently quiet, and you find a life that doesn't fear endings.
This Shalok returns to jeevat marnaa — "remain dead while yet alive" — the paradox that quieting the ego is what truly brings us to life (as in P10). It adds a gentle image of grace working through our states: "when the Lord puts him to sleep, he sleeps; when He wakes him, he regains consciousness." Our spiritual waking-up isn't purely our own doing — a "Glance of Grace" stirs it. The promise is freedom from the fear of endings: "die such a death, and you shall not die again." For a child: when the grabby, me-first part of you goes quiet, the real, alive, unafraid part gets to come out.
What part of you comes out when you stop worrying about being first or best?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI