Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Once doubt is cleared away, lasting peace arrives. By the Guru's grace, the soul reaches the very highest state there is, the **param pad**. Inside, they become clean and clear, and so their words come out clean and clear too — and easily, naturally, **sahaj**, they find themselves singing the beautiful qualities of the One.
This pauri picks up exactly where Pauri 5 left off — bharam chukaa-i-aa, "doubt dispelled" — and shows the fruit. When the confusion clears (because the great awe dissolved the small fears and the flickering uncertainty), what's left is sadaa sukh — lasting peace. Note the word sadaa: not a temporary good mood, but a steady, abiding peace. The world's pleasures are flickering and brief; this peace stays. It's the sahaj that the whole shabad keeps returning to.
The middle line names the destination: param pad — the supreme state, the highest spiritual condition, the same fourth-state-beyond-the-qualities we met in the previous shabad. And crucially, it comes gur parsaad — by the Guru's grace, not by self-effort. You don't climb to the highest state by sheer striving; you receive it when grace lifts you there. This protects against the spiritual ego that wants to brag "look how high I got." The param pad is a gift, not a trophy.
The most beautiful line is the last, and it reveals a deep truth about how inner and outer connect: antar nirmal, nirmal bani — "inside pure, so the words are pure." Guru Amar Das points out that clean speech flows from a clean heart. You can't fake it for long; what fills the inside eventually comes out the mouth. When the heart is washed clean (recall the bathing in the nectar-pool, Pauri 1), the words that come out are naturally true, kind, and clear — no effort needed. And then har gun sahjay gaavania — they sing the One's praises sahjay, effortlessly. This is the lovely endpoint: goodness has become so natural that praise and kindness just flow out of them, the way water flows from a full spring. They're not trying to be good; they've become good all the way through, and it shows in every word. A pure inside makes a beautiful outside, automatically.
Have you noticed how, when you feel peaceful inside, kinder words come out of you? And when you're upset inside, harsher ones slip out? What does that tell you about where to start?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI