Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Master is real and lasting, and so is the Master's Name — both true, both permanent. By the teacher's kindness, I hold that One in my heart always. And so the fear of being born and dying is cut away; my clinging falls off; and all my sorrow and suffering simply vanish.
This pauri anchors the abundance and peace of the previous verses in the permanence of the One. Sachaa saahib sachee naaee — "the saahib (Master) is sachaa (true, real, permanent), and the naaee (Name) is sachee (true, real, permanent)." Twice the word sach — the deep word for what is real, genuine, enduring, as opposed to jhooth (the false, the fading). Both the Master and the Name are sach. This matters: the rains may come and go, the harvest may be eaten, the seasons turn — but the One and its Name do not pass. Amid all the abundance and beauty of the created world (which is real but changing), the Master and the Name are the permanent ground.
Gur parsaad tis sadaa dhiaaee — "by the Guru's parsaad (grace), I sadaa (forever) remember that One." The remembrance is continual (sadaa) and, as always, grace-given (gur parsaad).
And from holding fast to the permanent One, the impermanent fears fall away: janam maran bhai kaate mohaa, binse sog santaape — "the bhai (fear) of janam maran (birth and death) is kaate (cut); moh (clinging attachment) [falls off]; and sog (sorrow) and santaap (suffering, anguish) are binse (destroyed)." Look at the logic. Why do we fear, cling, and suffer? Because we attach ourselves to what is kachaa — fading, impermanent — and then dread losing it. The fear of birth and death, the clinging (moh), the sorrow — all grow from holding tight to things that pass. But when you anchor yourself in what is sach — the permanent Master and Name — the fear of impermanence loses its grip. You cannot lose what does not pass. To remember the eternal One is to be released from the dread of everything that ends. The verse teaches that the cure for the fear of loss is to root yourself in what cannot be lost.
The verse says fear and sorrow come from clinging to things that don't last. What do you hold onto most tightly? What might it feel like to root yourself instead in something that can never be lost?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI