Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One forgives all on His own and draws you back into union. From the Perfect Guru you receive the **Naam** — a treasure that never runs out. When the True Name lives in you, your mind itself becomes true and steady; and holding to that True One, your sorrow simply leaves.
This verse says the One does the forgiving and the joining, and the Name makes the mind true for good.
The first word sets the tone: aapay — "He Himself." Aapay bakhsay mayl milaa-ay — He forgives, and He joins us to Himself. After a whole shabad about cleaning a stained mind, this verse makes sure we do not think we did the cleaning. Forgiving and joining are gifts of grace. The One reaches for us; we do not climb up to the One. Gurprasaad, the Guru's grace, means noticing that this joining was always on offer.
Then comes a treasure: naam niDh, the Name as a hidden store of riches. Most savings shrink when you spend them. This one grows. The more we live in it, the fuller we become. And it changes us: sachai naam sadaa man sachaa — through the True Name, the mind becomes sach, true, for good. This answers the passing, made-up things the shabad has been describing. The world's stains do not last, because they are made of what is not real. The truth the Name plants lasts, because it is made of what is real.
The last promise is plain and kind: sach sayvay dukh gavaavni-aa — hold on to the True One, and sorrow goes. Hard things still happen in life. But the deep ache of feeling cut off from the whole begins to fade. Think of a child who was lost in a crowded store and finds their parent again. The store is just as busy. But the fear is gone.
What is one thing in your life that grows larger the more you give it away, instead of shrinking?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI