Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Through the Guru's **shabad**, the One was shown to me right inside my own heart. That same Word burned away my clinging to **maya** — my desperate grip on passing things. Now I gaze on the Truest of the True and praise Him; through the Guru's Word, I have found the real One.
This verse says the Guru's Word does two things at once: it burns away our clinging, and it shows us the One inside our own heart.
First: gur kai sabad ridai dikhaa-i-aa means "through the Guru's Word, the One was shown in my heart." Ridai means the heart. Notice the word "shown." The shabad, the Guru's Word, doesn't hand you new facts about a faraway God. It pulls back a curtain and lets you see what was already there, inside your own chest. That is gurprasaad, grace. Not adding something new, but uncovering what was always there.
Second, at the same time: maa-i-aa moh sabad jalaa-i-aa means "through the Word, I burned my clinging to Maya." Maya is the pull of the world's passing things. Moh is clinging, the sticky "I have to have this, I can't lose that." Here the Word is pictured as a fire. What does it burn? Not the world itself. Guru Amar Das never asks us to run from the world. It burns the clinging. And that clinging is exactly what was blocking the inside view.
So the two actions are really one. The fire of the Word burns away the clinging that blocked your view. And in the same moment, the One becomes visible inside. It's like wiping the fog off a bathroom mirror: the moment the fog goes, your face is right there.
That answers a question many of us have. How can I see the One inside when my mind is so full of wanting? You don't have to clean it all out yourself first. The Word does both at once, burning the clinging and showing the One, in one act of grace.
And then: sacho sachaa vaykh saalaahee means "seeing the Truest of the True, I praise." Once you really see the One, praise isn't a chore. It is the natural "wow" of someone who has finally found what they were looking for. The seeing makes the song. A later verse shows people who read about the One endlessly and never saw, because they never let the Word burn their clinging. Here the Word burns, the curtain lifts, and gur sabdee sach paavni-aa: "through the Guru's Word, I find the True One."
What are you clinging to so tightly that it might be blocking your view of something more important right in front of you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI