Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Only a rare person truly understands the Guru's **shabad**. When someone lets their ego die, suddenly the whole of reality — all three worlds — becomes clear to them. And here's the wonder: once that person has "died" in this way, they never have to die again. They melt, naturally and effortlessly (**sahaj**), into the True One.
This verse says that when the ego goes quiet, we see clearly and lose our fear of death.
It answers the fire of the verse before. The world was burning with wanting and ego. Here is how the fire goes out: aap maaray — let the self die. This is jeevat marnaa, "dying while alive," a very important idea in the Sikh way. It does not mean hurting the body or feeling nothing. It means the ego — the grabbing, separate "me" that fed the fire — goes quiet, while we go on living and breathing. The thing that was burning is the very thing that goes quiet.
Look at what comes next: aap maaray taa taribhavan soojhai — when the ego goes quiet, the three worlds come into view. That means all of reality. Why? Because the ego was blocking the view. While "I, me, mine" stands in the middle, we see the world through a tiny keyhole: "What's in it for me?" Take that away, and we see wide and clear, the way the one Light shows everywhere once the curtain drops. The ego was not just causing pain. It was causing blindness.
Then the great promise: fir oh marai na marnaa hovai — they die, never to die again. This does not mean the body lives forever. It means something deeper. The part of us that fears death is the ego, which badly wants to keep going. Once that "me" has already gone quiet, what is left to fear? So death loses its sting. It is like the costume coming off, as the first verse said. And it all finishes sehjay — easily and naturally — sach samaavani-aa, melting into the True One. One single move does it all: stop burning, stop fearing, start seeing. Let the small self go.
When has setting aside "what's in it for me?" let you suddenly see a situation — or a person — much more clearly and kindly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI