Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
My mind has come and taken shelter with those awakened ones. I have set down my pride, my sense of my own strength, and the dark fog of clinging attachment. So now I ask: please give Nanak the gift of the Name — the Name of the One who is beyond all reach and beyond all measuring.
This last verse says: come under the shelter of those who love the One, set down your pride, and ask for the gift of the Name.
The shabad finishes its journey. First the seeker admired the One's people. Then she saw what they are like. Now she takes shelter among them and asks for the gift. Tin kee saran pari-aa man mayraa means "my mind has come into their shelter." Saran is refuge, a safe place. She doesn't just admire these people from far away. She joins them. She goes and belongs among them, in the Sat Sangat, the true company.
Coming into that shelter means letting go. Maan taan taj moh andhayraa means "I set down pride, my own strength, and the darkness of clinging." Taj means to set down. Maan is pride. Taan is leaning on your own power, thinking "I can do it all by myself." Moh andhayraa is the darkness of moh, clinging to things that fade, like a fog that makes it hard to see. She empties her hands of all three. You can't climb into a safe boat while hugging a heavy bag. You can't take shelter while still holding onto your pride.
Then comes the one request. Naam daan deejai naanak ka-o means "please give Nanak the gift of the Name." After all that love for the One's people, what she really wants is the Name itself. And she asks for it as a daan, a gift. It is grace, not something earned.
The One is named once more as agam agaadhay. Agam means beyond reach. Agaadh means too deep to measure. Here is how the whole shabad fits together. The One is too far and too deep to reach directly. So the seeker goes to those who have already found the One. She takes shelter among them, sets down her pride, and asks, through them, for the gift of the Name.
The One beyond reach is reached through the One's people. The steps come together: love them, serve and learn from them, understand their calm freedom, and finally take shelter among them, empty-handed, and receive the Name. The road to the One runs through the company of those who found the One.
To enter the shelter of the awakened, the seeker had to set down pride, self-reliance, and clinging. Which of those three do you think would be hardest for you to let go of?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI