Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Hold the One in mind, and the house where sorrow lives starts to come down. Hold the One in mind, and even the fear of endings loses its sting.
Hold the One in mind, and dry branches turn green again; the heaviest, most stuck things somehow rise and float.
Remembering the One changes things that seemed impossible to change.
The verse repeats jis simrat, "remembering whom," like a drumbeat. Jis simrat dukh dayraa dhahai — remembering the One, the home of sorrow comes down. Jis simrat jam kichhoo na kahai — the jam, the messenger of death, says nothing to you. In the old picture, the jam comes at the end of life. Here the fear of endings loses its sting.
Jis simrat hot sookay haray — dry branches turn green again. Jis simrat doobat paahan taray — sinking stones float.
These are pictures of the impossible. Dry wood does not turn green, and stones do not float. Gurbani uses them to show how much remembering can change. Think of a plant you thought was dead, putting out one new green leaf. Hearing these lines as hope coming back is a way of reading them for today.
What's something in your life that feels dried-up or stuck — that might come back to life with care?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI