Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The unseen One, beyond all our figuring-out, fills every single place there is.
You cannot grab hold of it by trying hard — no amount of effort, by itself, ever reaches it. But when grace flows, you meet the true teacher; and by sheer kindness, you are drawn into union.
This verse says the One is everywhere, but we can't grab the One by effort. The meeting comes as a gift.
After the pause line's picture of reading all the way to the heart, this verse explains why even the best reading can't reach the One by itself. Alakh abhay-o har rahi-aa samaa-ay means "the unseen, unknowable One fills everything." Alakh means beyond the eye. Abhay-o means beyond the mind's figuring out. The One is everywhere. Yet the One can't be caught, because the One isn't the kind of thing grabbing can hold. Like trying to catch air in your fist.
Then comes a line at the center of Guru Amar Das's teaching. Upaa-ay na kitee paa-i-aa jaa-ay means "the One cannot be reached by any effort." This isn't saying effort is bad. Reading, serving and remembering are all good. It is saying the final meeting isn't a prize you win. Why? Because straining to grab comes from the grabbing self. And that grabbing self is exactly what stands between you and the One. The harder the ego strains, the more it pushes the "me, separate" feeling that hides the One.
So how does the meeting happen? Kirpaa karay taa satgur bhaytai means "when He shows kindness, we meet the True Guru." Nadree mayl milaavani-aa means "by His loving glance, He joins us to Himself." Kirpaa is kindness, grace. Nadar is a loving glance. It is grace from start to finish: grace brings the Guru, and kindness brings the joining.
Reading and serving get the ground ready and keep the heart facing the right way. Like opening the curtains in the morning. You can't make the sun come up, but you can open the curtains so its light comes in. The meeting itself, when it comes, is given, not taken. That is both humbling and freeing. Even our best doing can't capture the One. We can only open up, and let grace do what effort never could.
Where are you straining to 'obtain' something by sheer effort that might only open to you when you stop grasping?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI