Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Name is my wealth, the Name my delight, the Name my family and helper.
The teaching gave Nanak the wealth of the Name — and it never perishes, never comes or goes.
The close names, at last, the one companion for the road. Against every departing thing, the Name is "wealth, princely pleasure, family and helper" — it fills every role the vanishing things pretended to fill. Its defining property is stated with quiet finality: it "neither perishes, nor comes or goes." It is not subject to the arrivals and departures that govern everything else. The whole memento-mori was in service of this one positive: there is a treasure that stays, and it can be yours.
What in your life feels like it 'neither comes nor goes' — steady no matter what shifts around it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI