Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O my mind, do whatever pleases the One.
Become the lowest of the low, smaller than the smallest, and speak with deep humility.
This is a radical instruction, and it inverts everything the ego wants. "Become the lowest of the low" is not about accepting mistreatment; it is about voluntarily setting down the exhausting project of being above anyone. The ego spends enormous energy ranking itself — better than this one, more important than that one. Guru Arjan says: drop out of the whole competition. Go to the bottom on purpose. There is a strange freedom in it — the person who is not trying to be higher than anyone has nothing left to defend, and can meet everyone as an equal. Humility here is not weakness; it is the relief of laying down a weapon you were tired of carrying.
How much energy does it take to feel like you have to be better than everyone? What would it feel like to stop?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI