ਤੂ ਦਇਆਲੁ ਦਇਆਪਤਿ ਦਾਤਾ ਕਿਆ ਏਹਿ ਜੰਤ ਵਿਚਾਰੇ ॥
too da-i-aal da-i-aapat daataa ki-aa ayhi jant vichaaray.
You are Merciful, O Great Giver of Mercy; what are these poor beings?
ਮੁਕਤ ਬੰਧ ਸਭਿ ਤੁਝ ਤੇ ਹੋਏ ਐਸਾ ਆਖਿ ਵਖਾਣੇ ॥
mukat banDh sabh tujh tay ho-ay aisaa aakh vakhaanay.
All are liberated or placed into bondage by You; this is all one can say.
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਹੋਵੈ ਸੋ ਮੁਕਤੁ ਕਹੀਐ ਮਨਮੁਖ ਬੰਧ ਵਿਚਾਰੇ ॥੨॥
gurmukh hovai so mukat kahee-ai manmukh banDh vichaaray. ||2||
One who becomes Gurmukh is said to be liberated, while the poor self-willed manmukhs are in bondage. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You are kind — mercy is Your very nature. Next to that, what are we small beings but children being carried?
Whether a heart feels free or feels stuck, it all rests in You. The one who faces the teaching lives free; the one who faces only their own head feels bound — that is all there is to say.
Whether a heart feels free or stuck rests entirely in the One's mercy.
Da-i-aal da-i-aapat stacks the word for mercy to say mercy is not something the One does but something the One is. Freedom and bondage here are not sentences handed down but states of heart — facing the teaching, or facing only oneself.
A Question to Sit With
When you feel stuck, what helps you turn back toward what frees you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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