Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Whoever has my Beloved on their side, standing with them, is set free even while crossing the wide ocean of this world. The person who has truly recognized the teacher, and lives by what is real — what is there left for them to be afraid of? Nothing. Their fear is simply gone.
This pauri is about fearlessness born of being supported. The key word is ang — jis kaa ang kare meraa piaaraa — "the one whose ang (side) my Beloved takes." Ang means side, as in "to be on someone's side," to stand beside and support them. To have the Beloved at your side is the source of all the security that follows. You are not facing the world alone.
The result: so muktaa saagar sansaaraa — "that one is muktaa (free, liberated) [even amid] the saagar (ocean) of sansaar (the world)." Note: not liberated by escaping the world-ocean, but liberated within it. The one with the Beloved at their side is free while still crossing the treacherous waters. The ocean is still there, but it has lost its power to drown you, because you do not cross alone.
The climax is a rhetorical question that lands like a release: sat kare jin guroo pachhaataa, so kaahe kau dardaa — "the one who has pachhaataa (recognized, truly known) the Guru and sat kare (lives by the truth, makes truth real) — why should they be afraid?" The question expects the obvious answer: there is nothing to fear. This connects to nirbhau (fearlessness) from the Mool Mantar shabad (Shabad 14) — but here it is shown as a consequence. When you genuinely recognize the Guru and have the Beloved at your side, fear simply has no ground to stand on. Fear thrives on the sense of being alone, exposed, unsupported (the haumai of the separate self, the chintaa rog of Shabad 13). Remove the aloneness — put the Beloved at your side — and fear dissolves. For two boys, this is a profound reassurance: courage is not about being tough enough on your own; it comes from knowing you are not alone. The one who knows the Beloved stands beside them has nothing left to fear.
The verse says fear disappears when you know the Beloved is "on your side." When you've faced something scary, did it help to know someone was with you? How does not being alone change fear?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI