A Thousand Tricks Leave You; Remembering Walks With You
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Gently put down your clever tricks, dear child — you do not have to be the smartest one in the room to be at peace. Schemes and commands do not win over the One.
You could try a thousand clever tricks, and not one of them would go with you in the end. So remember the One, day and night — that is the only companion that walks the whole way with you. And Nanak says: those the One draws into serving the holy ones are never overtaken by suffering.
A thousand clever tricks stay behind; remembering the One walks the whole way with you.
The second Sassa Pauri sets clever tricks beside remembrance. Siaanap chhaad iaanaa — put down your clever tricks — and iaanaa, "ignorant one," is heard as a gentle "dear child." Hikmat hukam na prabh patee-aanaa — schemes do not win over the One. The key contrast: sahas bhaat... chaturaaee, a thousand clever tricks, stay behind at the end, but so-oo... jap, remembrance, walks with you. The close, saadh sayvaa laavai jih aapai... dookh na biaapai — those the One draws into serving the holy are kept safe. The One draws them; grace begins it.
What is one thing that stays with you no matter what — that clever tricks could never buy?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI