Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Inside this cave — your own body — there's a treasure that never runs out. Living right in that cave is the One, who can't be seen and has no limit. He is His own hiding and His own revealing — sometimes hidden, sometimes shown. And through the Guru's **shabad**, the ego that blocks the view (**aap**) simply melts away.
Your own body is like a cave with a treasure inside that never runs out. The only thing blocking the way in is the ego.
Is gufaa meh akhut bhandaaraa — inside this gufaa (cave) is a treasure that never runs out. The cave is the human body. In Guru Amar Das's time, some yogis went to real caves in the mountains to sit in the dark and search for God. The Guru takes that picture and turns it inward. You do not need to find a cave on a mountain. Your own body is the cave, and the treasure is already inside. Another shabad says everything is placed within the body. Here that idea is painted as a hidden cave full of riches.
What is the treasure? Tis vich vasai har alakh apaaraa — inside it lives the One, alakh (who cannot be seen) and apaaraa (without any limit). The treasure is not gold. It is the living presence of the One, right inside you. And it is akhut, never running out. Think of a water bottle that refills itself every time you drink. You could draw from it forever and never empty it.
So why doesn't everyone just walk into their own cave and find it? Aapay gupat pargat hai aapay — He Himself is hidden, and He Himself is shown. The One is not playing a mean trick. Hiding and showing are both His doing, like a game of hide-and-seek played with love.
And the last line names the one thing that keeps the treasure hidden from us. Gur sabdee aap vanjaavan-i-aa — through the Guru's Word, the aap (the self, the ego) is cleared away. Think of a big rock rolled across the cave's mouth. That rock is the puffed-up "I." While it blocks the doorway, the treasure stays hidden. When the Guru's Word melts that "I," the cave opens, and the One who was always inside is found. The treasure was never missing. Only the self was blocking the door.
If the richest treasure you could ever find is already inside you, what would it mean to stop searching "out there" and look within instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI