Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am no great scholar, and no especially clever or shrewd person.
But I do not wander lost, and doubt no longer leads me in circles.
I don't spin out empty talk — I have come to recognize the flow of existence and rest in it.
Through the teaching, a quiet, natural peace has simply taken me in.
You do not have to be clever to find peace; ease itself takes you in.
This is the closing verse. It starts by saying no to cleverness. Nah pandit nah chatur si-aanaa — I am not a scholar, not clever or wise. A pandit is a learned teacher. The peace did not come from being smart.
Katha-o na kathnee hukam pachhaanaa — I do not spin empty talk. Instead I recognize Hukam, the flow of existence.
Naanak gurmat sahj samaanaa — through the Guru's teaching, Nanak rests in sahj, natural ease. It is the same ease the shabad opened toward.
This is coming to grace empty-handed. It is not putting yourself down. "Not clever" is a kind of freedom, because you no longer need to be. Think of floating in a pool. The more you stop kicking and trust the water, the better you float.
Is there something you've understood deeply not by being smart about it, but by living it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI