Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O servants of the One, hold the One in your hearts.
Misfortune does not even come near the One's servant; the work of the One's servant is perfectly fulfilled.
This part says that trouble can't reach the deepest part of someone rooted in the One.
It is the last shabad by Guru Arjan in this raag. It opens with a bold promise. Har jan ka-o apdaa nikat na aavai — misfortune does not even come near the One's servant.
Read this the right way. It is not a promise that hard things will never happen. It is the deeper truth that a person rooted in the One is not finally broken by them. Trouble can't reach the core. An earlier shabad in this raag said the same: nothing sticks.
Think of a tree with deep roots in a storm. The branches shake, but the tree stays standing. Pooran daas kay kaam — the servant's work is fully done. The work that truly matters comes to fruit. This is the safety of a life anchored in the One. Outer storms may come, but they can't touch what is deepest.
What does it mean for trouble to 'not come near' the deepest part of you, even when hard things still happen on the surface?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI