Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A person sets out determined for the west, and the One quietly turns them toward the east.
In a single instant the One raises up and takes down; every outcome rests in the One's hands.
The shabad opens on the limits of human steering: we aim west, and life lands us east. This is not mockery of planning but a humbling of our certainty about outcomes — "in an instant, He establishes and disestablishes." Held rightly, this is freeing rather than frightening: if the results were never fully in our hands, we can act wholeheartedly and hold the outcome lightly, trusting a wisdom larger than our aim.
When has life taken you somewhere completely different from where you aimed — and turned out better?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI