Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
How can we know where we came from? Where did we begin, and where will we go when we melt back in? How do we get tangled up, and how do we get free? How do we slip back, easily and naturally, into the One that never ends?
Guru Nanak starts with big questions, and he lets them stay big.
Jaato jaa-ay kahaa tay aavai — how can we know where we came from? Where did we begin, and where will we go? Ki-o baaDhi-o ki-o muktee paavai — how do we get tied up, and how do we get free? Muktee means freedom, being set loose.
Where from, where to, what ties us, what frees us: seekers in every place and age have asked these four. Guru Nanak asks them first, before giving any answer. He shows that asking honestly matters more than holding a ready-made answer. The answers are not cheap, and he does not pretend they are. It is like a good teacher who lets the class sit with a hard question for a while.
The hoped-for end is sahj, calm, natural ease. Ki-o abhinaasee sahj samaavai — how do we melt, easily, into the One who never ends? It is not a dramatic escape. It is more like a drop of water sliding back into the sea.
Which of these big questions do you find yourself wondering about most?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI