Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Millions of wrongs are wiped out by holding the One's Name in mind.
The heart's desires are fulfilled by singing the One's praise.
The fear of birth and death is uprooted, and the lasting true home is found.
If it is so written, one is absorbed at the One's feet.
Bless me with your mercy, One — please keep me and save me; Nanak is a sacrifice to you.
The Pauree gathers the fire-image into a full list of what the Name burns away: millions of wrongs, unfulfilled desires, and — the deepest — "the fear of birth and death." And in their place, "the eternal, unchanging true home." This is the movement the whole Vaar keeps making: subtraction of what burdens (wrongs, fear), addition of what steadies (the home that doesn't change). And it ends, as the Paurees do, in humble petition — "bless me, keep me, save me" — the seeker not claiming the results but asking for the grace that produces them. Even the fire, in the end, is asked for, not lit by willpower.
What would it feel like to have the fear of losing everything replaced by a sense of a home that can never be taken away?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI