Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Blessed, blessed is the true teacher; being near it, one holds the One in mind.
When the teacher becomes merciful, all one's faults are driven away.
The supreme One, the true teacher, lifts up and honors the lowly.
Cutting away the painful noose of illusion, it makes us its own.
With my tongue I sing the praise of the endless One.
The Guru litany completes with the teacher's defining work: "uplifts and exalts the lowly." This is the heart of it — the Guru's power is used to raise the low, to honor those the world overlooked, to cut "the painful noose of Maya" and claim people as the One's own. It is the same inversion as the beggar-king (P20): the lowly are lifted, the overlooked are honored. And note the tenderness — the teacher does not just instruct; it "makes us His own," claims us, belongs to us. The response, as ever, is simply to sing. The seeker who was lowly and is now lifted has nothing to offer but praise.
What does it mean that the greatest wisdom uses its power to lift up the lowly and overlooked, rather than the already-mighty?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI