Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The awakened ones set my feet on the path to the One. The kind holy teacher got me used to living close to the One, day by day, until it felt natural. Now the One is mine, and I am the One's own servant — we belong to each other. Nanak says: the Guru handed me the true Word, the real thing, and that changed everything.
After all the similes of longing and satisfaction, the closing pauri tells how the seeker actually got here — and it was through the saints and the Guru. Santan mo kau har maarag paaiaa — "the santan (saints) placed me on the maarag (path) to the One." The longing of the Rahao did not find its own way; the awakened ones set her feet on the road. This is Sat Sangat once more as the section's constant teaching: you reach the Beloved through those who already know the way.
The next line contains a quietly profound word: saadh kripaal har sang gijhaaiaa — "the merciful saadh (holy one) made me gijhaaiaa — accustomed, habituated — to the company of the One." Gijhaaiaa means to get used to something through repetition until it becomes second nature, the way you get used to a new home or a new routine. The Guru did not just give the seeker a single mystical experience; the Guru trained her, gently and repeatedly, until being close to the One became natural, habitual, easy. This is how simran matures — not by force but by loving repetition until remembrance is as natural as breathing. Nearness becomes a habit of the heart.
The resolution is the mutual belonging we saw in Shabad 18, stated personally: har hamraa, ham har ke daase — "the One is mine, and I am the One's daas (servant)." Both directions at once: possession and belonging, intimacy and devotion. And the final gift names the means: Naanak sabad guroo sach deenaa — "the Guru gave [me] the sach (true) shabad (Word)." It all came through the Guru's gift of the true Word — the sach, the real and permanent, as opposed to the jhooth (false, fading) of the ego-world. The arc completes: the soul that was the fish in the water and the thirsty bird (Rahao), drenched and dyed with love (P1–P2), arrived there because the saints placed it on the path and the Guru habituated it to the One and gave it the true Word. Signed with the lineage's name, Nanak. Longing becomes belonging, through the patient grace of the Guru.
The Guru made closeness to the One a "habit" through gentle repetition. What good habit in your life started out hard but slowly became natural? How did the repeating change you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI