Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Dear One, I want to live always inside Your shelter, safe under Your wing. You are the one who forgives us all on Your own and lifts us up with real greatness. And here's something amazing: the fear of death can't even come close to the person who keeps the **Naam** alive in their heart — because they've already touched what never dies.
Here the soul takes shelter in the One. Har jee-o tayree sadaa sarnaa-ee — Dear One, I am always in Your shelter.
Saran means refuge, a safe place. After the verses about the hidden One and grace, the soul now answers. It doesn't try to deserve the One. It simply rests in safety. Think of a small child running into a parent's arms during a storm. Taking refuge means you stop guarding yourself with your own ego. You let yourself be held. It is the opposite of the manmukh's anxious clinging.
The middle line keeps Guru Amar Das's steady beat: aapay bakhsihi — You Yourself forgive. Greatness is given, not earned, as the third verse said too. The shabad never lets this become a trade. You come into the shelter and you are forgiven there. Forgiveness is part of the shelter, not a ticket to get in.
Then comes a bold promise: jamkaal tis nayrh na aavai — the Messenger of Death doesn't come near the one who remembers the Naam, the Name. This mirrors the earlier verse where the manmukh was bound in the City of Death. How can someone who still dies one day be untouched by death? Because they hold on to the One, who is sach — real and lasting. Death only takes what was always passing. What scares us about death is really the fear of the separate "me" ending. Gurbani speaks of jeevat marnaa: letting the proud "me" go while you are still living. Do that, and death has nothing left to threaten.
What does it mean to feel truly safe? Is real safety about nothing bad ever happening, or about being anchored to something that can't be taken away?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI