Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O friend, my Beloved does whatever it pleases; it depends on no one.
You have known your Beloved — please, tell me about it.
Only those find the Beloved who erase their self-conceit; such good fortune is written for them.
Taking me by the arm, the One made me its own — without weighing my merits or my faults.
The one the One adorns with the necklace of virtue and dyes in the deep crimson of its love — everything looks beautiful on her.
Servant Nanak: blessed is that joyful soul-bride who dwells with her Beloved.
Here the answer to the previous verse's insecurity arrives, and it is pure grace. How is the Beloved found? By those who "eradicate self-conceit" — not by being the most beautiful or worthy, but by letting the anxious, comparing ego dissolve. And the decisive line, which answers all the "I don't measure up" of before: "Taking me by the arm, the Lord made me His own; He did not consider my merits or demerits." The soul who feared she'd be passed over for not being good enough is chosen — and precisely without her merits or faults being weighed. She did not have to win the comparison. She was taken by the arm anyway. And then she is adorned with virtue and "dyed crimson" (the permanent Rang) — the beauty comes after being chosen, as its result, not its price (exactly as in Devgandhaari Shabad 2, love makes worthy).
What changes if you're chosen and loved before you've proven yourself — and the goodness grows out of being loved, rather than earning it first?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI