Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
My true teacher is so powerful, able to do anything. The moment I hold the One in my soul, every bit of my sorrow lifts and falls away. The sickness of worry is gone; the ache of my own ego is gone. The One takes care of me, all by itself, the way a parent cares for a child.
If the Rahao named the disease (forgetting), this stanza names the healer. Satgur meraa vad samrathaa — "my Satgur is vastly capable (samrath)." The remembering that ends suffering is held and empowered by the Guru. And the result of jeee samaalee — "holding [the One] in the soul," simran — is immediate: taa sabh dukh lathaa, "then all suffering lifts off." The word lathaa is physical, like a heavy load sliding off the back.
The two specific ailments cured are precisely chosen: chintaa rog and hau peerhaa — "the disease of anxiety/worry (chintaa)" and "the pain of ego (hau / haumai)." These two are deeply linked. Anxiety is the constant low-grade fear of the separate self — the haumai that believes it is alone, exposed, responsible for everything, and therefore perpetually worried. When the illusion of being a separate, cut-off self dissolves through remembrance, the anxiety it generated dissolves with it. You cannot worry as a separate self if you no longer experience yourself as separate. Cure the ego, and the chronic worry it produces is cured too.
And the cure is not self-administered: aap kare pratipaalaa — "[the One] itself does the cherishing." Pratipaal is the tender care a parent gives a small child — feeding, protecting, holding. The seeker does not heal herself through technique; she is cared for. This is the gentle heart of these Mehl 5 shabads: the relief from suffering comes not as a reward for spiritual labor but as the tender keeping of a parent. The all-powerful Guru is also the all-tender Guru. Power and gentleness are one.
The verse links worry and ego — the fear comes from feeling alone and separate. When you feel most anxious, does it help to remember you are not actually alone? Who or what reminds you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI