Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
God Himself listens, and God Himself watches — nothing happens outside of Him. The person He shines His kind glance on, His **nadar**, becomes the one who really counts. And here is the surprising part: you don't attach yourself to Him by your own willpower. The ones who are joined to Him are joined because He joined them. Then, facing the light as a **gurmukh**, they live out the truth in everyday life.
This verse says the One is the one who draws us close, and once drawn close, we live the truth in daily life.
Guru Amar Das does something that can feel strange at first. He keeps saying the One does everything. Aap sunai tai aapay vaykhai means "He Himself hears, and He Himself sees." He gives the glance. He joins us. So where is our effort?
This is the teaching of grace, gurprasaad, the Guru's gift. The separate self loves to believe it earned its way to God by hard spiritual work. But that very belief, "I did it," is haumai: the ego, the feeling of being a separate doer. So the Guru gently takes the credit away from the ego.
The key word is nadar, the glance of grace. Jis no nadar karay so-ee jan laykhai means "the one He looks on with grace is the one who counts." Grace isn't a reward for being good. It is the sun that was always shining, and you finally turned to face it. Picture a flower in a window turning its face toward the light.
Aapay laa-ay la-ay so laagai means "they are joined, whom He Himself joins." That isn't gloomy, as if nothing we do matters. It is a relief. The One was always reaching for you. Your job was never to build the connection yourself, only to stop blocking it.
And look at the last words. Gurmukh sach kamaavani-aa means "facing the Guru, they live the truth." Kamaavani-aa also carries the sense of earning by working. Grace isn't an excuse to do nothing. The gurmukh, the one facing the Guru, who has received the glance, doesn't just sit back. They put truth into practice in ordinary life, the grihast or householder life of family and work. Grace lands, and then it becomes a way of living.
Can you remember a moment of real understanding that felt less like something you achieved and more like something that was given to you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI