Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I would give everything I am for the people who keep the **Name** on their lips even now, in a loud and forgetful age.
The True One plants such saints in the world like rare trees, and simply to be near them, to catch sight of them, is a stroke of great good fortune.
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. It turns from the hidden One to the people who keep the Name close.
Ha-o vaaree jee-o vaaree kal meh naam sunaavni-aa — I give myself to those who share the Naam, the Name, in kal, this dark age. In the old way of counting time, Kal Yug is the age of forgetting. It's noisy and distracted, the time when remembering the One is hardest. Because it's so hard, the people who still keep the Name alive are all the more precious. The darker the night, the more a small candle is worth.
These people are the sant, the beloved saints. Sant pi-aaray sachai Dhaaray — the True One set them in place. They didn't appoint themselves. The One plants them in the world on purpose. It's like planting shade trees along a hot, dusty road, so others can rest and find fruit.
And how do we relate to them? Vadbhaagee darsan paavani-aa — by great good fortune, we get their darsan. Darsan means seeing, being in the presence of someone holy. Not only their teaching or their advice, but their very presence, which steadies and lifts whoever comes near. Guru Arjan calls this vadbhaagee, great good luck. Being near someone who truly remembers the One pulls your own forgetting back toward remembering. We become like the friends we keep, and there are no better friends than these.
Who in your life keeps you pointed toward what matters, just by being near them?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI