Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Dear One — what should I even ask of You? Nothing here lasts; all who come will go.
Give Nanak the wealth of the Name, to adorn his heart and his neck.
The Ashtapadee closes as Shabad 49 did — narrowing all asking to one request — but from a different angle: having surveyed that "nothing appears permanent; whoever comes shall depart," the speaker realizes there is nothing worth asking for among the passing things. So he asks for the one thing that stays: "the wealth of the Naam." And he wants to wear it — "to adorn his heart and neck" — like a treasured ornament. When you truly see that everything else leaves, the only sensible request is for what remains.
If nothing you could ask for would last except one thing, what would you make sure to ask for?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI