Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You hold no grudge against anyone — You have no enemies at all — and the people close to You become spotless and clear like You. Just being around them, all the heavy guilt and grime slides off a person. Nanak stays alive by remembering the Name again and again, and his stubborn doubt and fear — the kind that wouldn't let go — finally let go.
This verse says the One has no enemies, and the people close to the One become clear and kind like that too.
Nirvair — You are without hatred. The One holds no grudge and picks no enemies. This follows from the thread picture earlier in the shabad. If every bead on the necklace is Yours, You cannot be against any of them. A One who is in everything cannot hate anything. So there is no angry, score-settling judge here. There is only fair, steady love with no opposite.
Sant tayray nirmal — Your saints are nirmal, spotless and clear. People become like the company they keep. Live near a One who holds no hatred, and the hatred drains out of you as well. So jin daykhay sabh utreh kalmal — just being around such people, a person's guilt and grime slide off. Goodness spreads, the way a friend's calm can settle a whole room. The same thing happens in the sat sangat, the gathering of good company. Nobody has to scrub themselves clean by force. Being near what is clear makes you clearer.
The last line gathers up the whole shabad. Naanak naam Dhi-aa-ay Dhi-aa-ay jeevai — Nanak lives by remembering the Name, again and again. And then binsi-aa bharam bha-o Dheethaa: his bharam (doubt, the restless wandering mind) and bha-o (fear) were Dheethaa, stubborn, and they finally left. "Stubborn" is an honest word. Fear and doubt rarely leave on the first try. They dig in and come back. But steady remembering wears them away, the way water smooths a stone. The shabad began by calling the wise person the one who finds hukam, the way life runs, sweet. It ends with the proof: even the most stubborn fear lets go, and the heart rests on the one thread that runs through all things.
Is there a fear or doubt in you that's been "stubborn" — that keeps coming back no matter what? What might it take to gently wear it down instead of fighting it head-on?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI