Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The wisdom that wakes me up feels like family. It is like a mother and a father to me. It is a companion who chases away my not-knowing, and a brother who never leaves.
It gives me the greatest gift of all: it teaches me the Name — the practice of keeping the One in mind. And that teaching never fails.
It is peace, truth, and clear seeing all at once. It is like the magic stone in old stories that turns iron to gold — except what it turns is me, from lost into whole.
It is the holy river and the pool of sweet water where I can bathe; and bathing in its wisdom, I touch something endless. It washes clean even the one who felt ruined. It was here at the very beginning and through every age.
So I ask, with an open heart: let me sit among people who carry this wisdom. Even lost and empty-handed, if I hold on, I am carried across. Before I begin, I bow.
Before the alphabet begins, the whole song bows to the wisdom that wakes us up.
This is the opening Shalok, a short verse, of the Baavan Akhree. The name means "52 Letters." In it Guru Arjan walks through the alphabet one letter at a time, and each letter holds a small teaching.
Every line of this opening begins with gurdayv, the Divine Guru. The word comes again and again, like a steady drumbeat. The Guru here is more than a human teacher. Many explain the word Guru as the one who carries a mind from darkness (gu) into light (ru). So the Guru is also the waking-up wisdom itself.
The Shalok piles up every role a person could need. Gurdayv maataa gurdayv pitaa — the Guru is mother, the Guru is father. The Guru is also companion, relative, brother, giver, holy shrine and pool of sweet nectar. The wisdom that wakes you is all of these at once.
The key picture is the paaras, a magic stone from old stories that turns iron into gold at a touch. Gurdayv paaras paras paraa — touching the Guru, one is changed. The Guru does not just reward you. It changes you into something like itself.
Near the end the singer calls himself moorh paapee, a foolish wrongdoer. This is not putting yourself down. It is the honest stance of someone who knows they cannot cross alone, and so holds on and is carried. Think of a small child holding a parent's hand to cross a busy street.
Who or what has felt like family to you not by blood, but by helping you see more clearly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI