ਛਿਨ ਮਹਿ ਰਾਉ ਰੰਕ ਕਉ ਕਰਈ ਰਾਉ ਰੰਕ ਕਰਿ ਡਾਰੇ ॥
chhin meh raa-o rank ka-o kar-ee raa-o rank kar daaray.
In an instant, He changes the beggar into a king, and the king into a beggar.
ਰੀਤੇ ਭਰੇ ਭਰੇ ਸਖਨਾਵੈ ਯਹ ਤਾ ਕੋ ਬਿਵਹਾਰੇ ॥੧॥
reetay bharay bharay sakhnaavai yeh taa ko bivhaaray. ||1||
He fills what is empty, and empties what is full - such are His ways. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In an instant it turns a beggar into a king, and a king into a beggar.
It fills what is empty and empties what is full — such are its ways.
No high position is secure and no low one is final — the wheel is in the One's hand, which is both a caution and a comfort.
The verse marvels at the One's power to overturn all fortunes "in an instant" — beggar to king, king to beggar, the empty filled and the full emptied. This is both humbling and hopeful: no high position is secure, and no low one is final. The wheel is in the One's hand. For anyone brought low, this is comfort; for anyone tempted to pride, a caution. All conditions are held loosely by the One.
A Question to Sit With
Does it steady you that no condition — high or low — is permanent in the One's hand?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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