Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When I turn the Name over quietly in my mind, the pure, spotless Name, it is as if all the world's treasures and all its hidden powers are already mine. I have what they were only ever pointing toward.
The One fills everything, everywhere, complete. In that fullness the poison of grasping loses its sting.
The old three-way pull of the restless world lets go, and I find myself resting in something clear and clean.
The teaching has become truly useful to my soul. It is not just words, but something my life can live by.
Keep the pure Name in mind, and you already have what every treasure was pointing toward.
This is the opening of a Guru Nanak song in eight verses, called an Ashtapadee. It begins by setting the world's prizes to one side. Nidh sidh are the nine treasures and the magic powers people dream of. Nidh sidh nirmal naam beechaar — they come from thinking on the nirmal naam, the spotless Name. The Name gives what those prizes only promise.
Pooran poor rahi-aa bikh maar — the Perfect One fills everything and ends the poison. Bikh, poison, here means grasping. It is ended simply by being seen clearly, in the light of that fullness.
Trikutee chhootee — the three-way pull lets go. Maa-i-aa, the passing show of the world, pulls us three ways at once: toward rushing, toward dullness, and toward being good in a proud way. When that pull loosens, the mind rests in bimal, the clear, clean place.
Think of a tug-of-war rope that three teams keep yanking. When they all let go, the rope lies still. Gur kee mat jee-ay aa-ee kaar — the Guru's teaching has become truly useful to my soul.
What's something you chased hard, only to find the thing you really wanted was underneath it all along?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI