Death Seeks the I the Gurmukh Already Released

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

This verse says that the person who faces the Guru meets the One, and fear and chains fall away.

This whole shabad is a song about the gurmukh. The word starts line after line, like a drumbeat. So it helps to be clear about what it means. Gurmukh means "face turned toward the Guru," toward the light. It is not a special group of holy people you either belong to or don't. It is a direction you face, and anyone can turn that way at any moment. The opposite, manmukh, means "face turned toward your own ego." These are not two kinds of people. They are two directions any one of us can face. The whole shabad shows what life becomes when we turn toward the light, and the door is open to everyone.

The first line keeps pride away right at the start. Gurmukh milai milaa-ay aapay — the gurmukh meets the One, and the One aapay, Himself, does the joining. Even the gurmukh does not make the meeting happen alone. Facing the light is not a trophy we win. It is a turning that lets grace do its work.

Then two big claims. Kaal na johai — death cannot even spot them. Dukh na santaapay — pain cannot torment them. Devoted people still feel pain, and bodies still end. So what does this mean? The part of us that fears death is the separate "me," which badly wants to keep going. For the gurmukh, that "me" has already gone quiet. So death comes looking for a frightened "I" to grab, and finds nothing to hold. Pain may still touch the body, but it cannot torment a soul resting in the One. The last line says how: ha-umai maar banDhan sabh torhai — quiet the ego, and all the chains snap. The ego was the chain. Think of a kite string cut loose from a tangle. Fear, grabbing and dread fall away, and gurmukh sabad suhaavani-aa — the Word makes the freed soul beautiful.