Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O good souls, let go of the pride in your mind.
Desire that grabs, anger that burns, and the company of those who pull you down — run from all of it, day and night.
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. It says: let go of pride, and stay far from what pulls you down.
This hymn is by the Ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and it is sung in Raag Gauree. His voice is simple and firm, all about letting go of what grips us. He speaks straight to the listeners: saaDho man kaa maan ti-aaga-o — holy ones, drop the maan, the pride, in your mind. He calls them saaDho, people already on the good path. And even to them, he says the hardest thing first. Drop the pride. The quiet pride of feeling "I'm so good" is the sneakiest trap of all, so he names it at the very start.
Then he names what to run from: kaam kroDh sangat durjan kee — kaam, grabbing desire; kroDh, burning anger; and the company of people who pull you toward harm. These three twist the heart. Taa tay ahinis bhaaga-o — run from them, day and night. Not now and then, but all the time.
Notice the word he picks. Not "fight them" or "beat them," but "run from them." Some things are better avoided than wrestled with. Think of a hot stove. You don't prove how strong you are by touching it. You just keep your hands away. The surest way to win against some pulls is to keep your distance. So the pause line sets the tone: drop your pride, step away from what twists you, and keep doing it, day and night.
Is there a temptation you keep trying to 'master' that you might do better to simply run from?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI