ਤੁਮਰੇ ਗੁਣ ਕਿਆ ਕਹਾ ਮੇਰੇ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਾ ਜਬ ਗੁਰੁ ਬੋਲਹ ਤਬ ਬਿਸਮੁ ਹੋਇ ਜਾਇ ॥
tumray gun ki-aa kahaa mayray satiguraa jab gur bolah tab bisam ho-ay jaa-ay.
What Glorious Virtues of Yours can I describe, O my True Guru? When the Guru speaks, I am transfixed with wonder.
ਹਮ ਜੈਸੇ ਅਪਰਾਧੀ ਅਵਰੁ ਕੋਈ ਰਾਖੈ ਜੈਸੇ ਹਮ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਰਾਖਿ ਲੀਏ ਛਡਾਇ ॥
ham jaisay apraaDhee avar ko-ee raakhai jaisay ham satgur raakh lee-ay chhadaa-ay.
Can anyone else save a sinner like me? The True Guru has protected and saved me.
ਤੂੰ ਗੁਰੁ ਪਿਤਾ ਤੂੰਹੈ ਗੁਰੁ ਮਾਤਾ ਤੂੰ ਗੁਰੁ ਬੰਧਪੁ ਮੇਰਾ ਸਖਾ ਸਖਾਇ ॥੩॥
tooN gur pitaa tooNhai gur maataa tooN gur banDhap mayraa sakhaa sakhaa-ay. ||3||
O Guru, You are my father. O Guru, You are my mother. O Guru, You are my relative, companion and friend. ||3||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
What good qualities of yours could I even describe, my teacher? When you speak, I am struck silent with wonder. Who else could save someone like me? You are my father, my mother, my relative, my friend.
The teacher becomes everything -- father, mother, friend -- and fills us with wonder.
Wonder at the Guru's word, and the Guru as family (cf. the Name as family elsewhere): the teacher replaces father, mother, kin. The rhetorical question -- who else could save a sinner like me? -- locates all hope in the Guru.
A Question to Sit With
Who has been like family to you, beyond your actual relatives?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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