Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When the Oneness turns kind, it leads you to meet the teaching. There, all peace is found in the Name. The old knots that tied you up come loose. The teaching sets you free, and your heart lifts into song.
The shabad ends not with a warning, but with being set free.
Ja-o ho-ay kirpaal ta satgur maylai — when the One is kind, you are led to the True Guru. Sabh sukh har kay naa-ay — all peace is in the Name.
Mukat bha-i-aa bandhan gur kholay — I am free; the Guru has untied my knots. The knots are the "mine, mine" clinging from the earlier verses. Think of a shoelace knot so tight your fingers cannot budge it, until someone patient loosens it for you.
It is grace that unties those knots, not effort. And the freed heart starts to sing, gun gaa-ay, singing the One's goodness. The whole shabad began with how short life is, and it ends in freedom and song.
What is a knot inside you that you can't untie by force — that might loosen only when you stop gripping it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI