The Aim Is to Become Real Gold, by His Work

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

This verse says the One made every person and tests every person, and our aim is to become real gold.

Guru Amar Das uses a picture from the market. "Khotay kharay" means fake coins and real coins. Long ago, a money-changer would test each coin (parkhay). He'd ring it, weigh it, even bite it, to see if the gold was real. The verse pictures the One as the great Tester of every person. But look at the first line, before any testing starts. "Khotay kharay tuDh aap upaa-ay" — You Yourself made both the fake and the real. The fake coins didn't make themselves. That one line keeps the picture from turning harsh.

An earlier song in this raag says the same thing: even the differences between people trace back to the One. The real coin can't brag. It didn't make its own gold. The fake coin isn't simply hated. It too came from the One's hand, part of the ajab kamm, the amazing works, of the last verse. So this verse isn't sorting people into winners and losers for us to feel proud about. It says everything, even the test and the result, belongs to the One.

What makes a coin real? In this song, a heart soaked in the amrit, the nectar of the Name. A fake heart is full of bharam, confusion, the same circling mind as before. And here is the kindness inside the test. A real coin is placed "khajaanai," in the treasury, kept close and treasured. That's the invitation. Don't fear the test. Let the nectar make you true gold. You can't pass by fooling the Tester. You pass by actually becoming real. And even that becoming, the song says, is His work in you.