Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I swam across the ocean of fire when I met the good, by great fortune.
Servant Nanak has found complete peace; my attention rests at the One's feet.
The "ocean of fire" (agan saagar) is the burning difficulty of worldly existence — its cravings, anxieties, and losses, all aflame. And the seeker "swam across" it — but note when: "when I met the Saints, through great good fortune." He did not cross by his own strength; the meeting with the good company, received as fortune, is what carried him over the fire. This is the raag's steady theology: the crossing is real, and it is grace-given through the Sangat. The shabad that began by setting down cleverness, worry, and ego ends in "total peace," the attention finally at rest "at the Lord's feet." Everything the ego was gripping has been released, and what remains is peace.
When you've made it through something hard, was it purely your own strength, or did help and good fortune carry you across?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI