Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Here is the secret: rare is the person who overcomes their sense of being split -- the feeling of 'me against the world.'
Overcome that, and you live like a calm ruler over your own inner life -- fully at peace, fully awake.
This one answers the riddle: the thing to overcome is the feeling of being split apart.
This is the Rahao line. Rahao means "pause." It is the center of the shabad, and here it names the mystery.
Aisaa ko-ay je dubiDhaa maar gavaavai — "rare is the one who kills and casts off dubidhaa." Dubidhaa means two-ness. It is a divided mind. Today we can read it as feeling separate from the One. It is the same false idea called haumai, the ego, the "me against the world" feeling. This is what the whole shabad means by the thing to be "killed."
Iseh maar raaj jog kamaavai — "overcoming it, one lives raaj jog." Raaj jog means "royal union." It is the life of someone who is fully busy in the world like a ruler, and fully at peace inside like a yogi.
Think of a team captain who stays calm in a tight game. They are fully in the action and steady inside. This is not running away from the world. It is a strong, quiet calm right in the middle of it.
When you feel most at war with the world, what is that really costing you inside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI