Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
How rare are the ones who truly know the One's Name!
It is through the Word of the perfect teacher that the One becomes real. Day and night, such souls give themselves to loving the One — and day and night, they find a deep, natural peace.
This verse says it is rare to truly know the One's Name, and those who do find a steady, easy peace.
After the long picture of the soul that misses (the empty reader, the restless mind, the show-off, the bride dressed for no one) this verse turns to the few who get it right. It feels like a window opening. Har kaa naam kinai virlai jaataa means "how rare are those who know the One's Name!" Virlaa means rare. The word is honest that such people are few. But it is said with wonder, not gloom. They do exist, here and there, and they are precious because they are few, like finding a four-leaf clover.
What makes the difference between the many who miss and the few who know? Pooray gur kai sabad pachhaataa means "through the Word of the perfect Guru, the One is recognized." It is the Shabad again, the Guru's Word. The same Word that cuts the ropes of Maya, the pull of the world. The same Word that dresses the soul the One forgives. The one who knows isn't smarter or better read than the one who misses. The difference is that in them, the Word has done its work. So the One has become real to them. Not a subject they know about, but a presence they feel.
And the fruit is a peace that is both steady and easy. An-din bhagat karay din raatee means "night and day they serve the One with love, day and night." Bhagat means loving devotion. Sehjay hee sukh paavni-aa means "they find peace, naturally." Notice "night and day" said twice. The devotion never stops, and neither does the peace. They are two sides of one life.
The peace is sahj: natural, unforced, the settled ease of a soul that has stopped grabbing because it is finally full. This answers the restless mind of the earlier verse. That mind wouldn't hold still and ran off in ten directions. This soul rests, easily, in the One. The whole life of the one who knows is the quiet opposite of the soul that misses. Not show, but love. Not wandering, but peace. Not decoration, but a Beloved truly present inside.
What would it take for something you 'know about' to become real enough that it gave you a settled, natural peace?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI