Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I have come at last to Your shelter, worn out from searching everywhere else. I read and recited and studied, turning over every page — and after all that searching I finally saw the simple thing: it is remembering the One with love that sets the heart free.
With every single breath I stumble and get it wrong — and that is all right, because You are boundless and endlessly kind. So I rest here in Your shelter: keep me safe, Merciful One. Nanak is Your child, and You are the One who holds the whole world.
After searching everywhere, the heart finds rest in one simple thing: resting like a child in the shelter of the One.
This is the verse for the letter Sassa, a song of taking shelter. Sasaa saran paray ab haaray — tired out, I have come to Your shelter. Saastar simrit bayd pookaaray names the Shaastras, Simritees and Vedas, holy books recited again and again.
The verse is fair here. Its point is about searching only in outer forms for what loving remembrance alone gives. Bin har bhajan nahee chhutkaaraa — without loving remembrance of the One, there is no freedom. It never looks down on the scriptures themselves. Think of searching every room for your glasses, and finding them on your own head.
Saas saas ham bhoolanhaaray — with every breath I slip up. That is not putting yourself down. It is the honest, empty-handed stance before grace. Tum samrath agnat apaaray — You are all-powerful, beyond counting, without end.
The tender close is the heart of it all. Naanak tumray baal gupaalaa — I am Your child, O Keeper of the world.
After trying hard to figure something out, have you ever felt relief in simply asking for help instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI