Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am Your child. I would gladly carry water for the humblest helpers of Your Saints; I long to be as close to them as the dust on their path.
Please pour Your kindness over me. I have set down my clever tricks and my scheming, and taken the support of Your saints as the thing my whole mind leans on.
And here is the wonder: even something as small and ordinary as a shape made of ashes can rise to the highest place — Nanak says, when it has the help and support of the saints. No one is too lowly to be lifted.
Chhachha is a self-emptying Pauri. Chhohray daas and "water-carrier for Your servants' servants" mean Your child and carry water for the humblest helpers — willing, glad lowliness. The striking image is chhaar kee putree — a "figure of ashes" — attaining param gat, the supreme state, through the saints' support. Even something made of ashes can rise to the highest place: a message of radical hope, since nothing and no one is too small, too plain, or too far gone to be lifted by the saints. The turning point is chhaad si-aanap baho chaturaa-ee — "I gave up my clever scheming" — the ego's plotting laid down, replaced by leaning on santan kee man tayk, the saints as the mind's support. Empty the self of its clever tricks, and be carried.
Why might setting down your own clever tricks sometimes open the door to help you couldn’t reach on your own?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI