Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
By grace, the True Guru has brought us close, and then, facing the Guru, we hold the Name in mind.
We do what the True Guru moves in us, and the Name comes to dwell in the home of the heart.
Those who carry the treasure of the Name inside have all their fear washed away.
When the One itself is the protector, whatever is thrown against them simply wears itself out.
Nanak says: hold the Name in mind, and the One will carry you through, here and everywhere after.
A Shalok of the Fourth Mehl on grace and protection. The sequence at the very start matters: kar kirpaa satgur mayli-on — grace comes first, and only then does the turning-toward and the remembering follow. Grace opens the door and remembrance walks through it. Those who "struggle and fight" become ill-will that "wears itself out" against a heart the One is protecting — no cursing, just the natural exhaustion of force spent against something it cannot move. The promise halat palat chhodaa-isee — deliverance "here and hereafter" — grounds it: this peace is not only for some far-off later, but for right now.
Grace comes first, before we do anything to deserve it. How is that different from thinking you have to earn every good thing?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI