Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The one who faces the light sees the One in the earth and in the water.
They see Him in the wind and the fire too. The whole world is His amazing play.
But the one with no teacher to open their eyes keeps dying and being born again. They go around and around, coming and going, never getting off the wheel.
This one says the One can be seen everywhere, even in earth and water.
Gurmukh Dhartee gurmukh paanee — the gurmukh, the one who faces the light, sees the One in the earth and in the water. Also in the wind and in fire. Everything is built from these four, and they aren't dead stuff. They are the One's living game, khaylai vidaanee, a play full of wonder. This is Ik Onkar, "there is One," made real enough to touch. You don't have to leave the world to find the One. The world is the One, showing up as soil and rain and breeze and flame. It is like loving someone so much that you see their kindness everywhere you look.
The other person is the niguraa, someone with no Guru, no teacher to open their eyes. Mar mar jammai: they die and are born again and again, aavan jaavani-aa, coming and going. You can hear this two ways. One is the big wheel of birth and death. The other is something you can feel right now: a life lived without really seeing. Always starting over, always restless, never feeling at home. The same wants keep coming back, because nothing fills up someone who can't see what's around them.
The difference between the two isn't about being good or bad. It is about seeing. They live in the same world of earth and water, wind and fire. One sees the One playing in it all and feels at peace. The other sees only things to grab, and keeps grabbing and starting over. Same world, opposite experience. The Guru is what opens the eyes.
Have you ever looked at something totally ordinary and suddenly seen how astonishing it actually is? What let you see it that way?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI