Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Let go of both being praised and being blamed; reach instead for that deep, still freedom — the peace beyond all of it.
It is a hard game to play, this letting-go. Only a rare few who truly turn toward the teaching ever really get it.
This last verse says to let go of both praise and blame, and it admits honestly that this is hard.
It takes the steadiness of the last verse to its sharpest point. Ustat nindaa do-oo ti-aagai — let go of both ustat, praise, and nindaa, blame. Khojai pad nirbaanaa — and look instead for pad nirbaanaa, the state of deep, still freedom. Of all the see-saws, wanting praise and fearing blame may be the hardest to step off. They touch the ego where it's most tender. Without knowing it, we're shaped by wanting people to think well of us and by fearing their criticism. Think of checking again and again how many likes a post got. Guru Tegh Bahadur says let go of both. Don't just stop fearing blame. Also stop needing praise. The two are one hook, and you're not free of one while still caught on the other. What you look for instead is that still freedom, where the soul rests in the One, not in what the world says about you.
Then comes a line of plain honesty: jan naanak ih khayl kathan hai — says Nanak, this is a hard game. KinhooN gurmukh jaanaa — only a few gurmukhs, those who face the Guru's light, understand it. The Guru doesn't pretend it's easy. Truly letting go of praise and blame, staying steady through pleasure and pain, reaching that still freedom: it's a hard game, and only a few really get it. There's comfort in hearing that. He isn't scolding anyone for finding it hard. He is saying it is hard. He honors the few who manage it, and leaves the door open for anyone willing to try. The verse ends not with a demand but with a clear truth: the freedom is real, and rare, and worth the hard game of letting go.
Could you let go of needing praise as fully as you'd let go of fearing blame — and what still freedom might be waiting on the other side?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI