Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Friend, the Saintly teaching is exactly this kind of helper.
Meet it, and the ropes of glitter come loose, and you never let the One slip from mind.
The true teacher is a helper who loosens our knots and gives us something better to hold.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. Saajan aiso sant sahaa-ee — friend, the Saint, the Guru, is this kind of helper. A helper works beside you. A helper is not a boss standing over you.
The help is real. Tooteh maa-i-aa banDh — the ropes of Maya break. Maya is the shiny pull of the world, the "I want more" feeling. And then bisar na kabahoo jaa-ee — the One is never forgotten.
These two go together. Think of a small child gripping a sharp toy. Telling them "let go" rarely works. Handing them a soft ball works. They drop the sharp toy on their own. The teacher does not only say "let go." The teacher gives you something better to hold, so letting go becomes easy.
When has receiving something better made it easy to release something you'd been gripping?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI