Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
And here is the teacher pictured another way — as a tree of pure gold, with leaves of coral and blossoms of jewels and rubies; and the words from its mouth are fruits made of jewels. Within its own heart, it gazes always on the One.
Such a teacher is found by those whose deepest story leads them to it. And all the holiness of sixty-eight sacred pilgrimage-sites is gathered into simply staying, humbly, at that teacher's feet.
But watch out: cruelty, clinging attachment, greed, and anger are like four rivers of fire — fall into them and you are burned. You are kept safe only by holding tight to good and kind deeds.
This shalok gives a second, even more radiant image of the Guru as tree — now a tree of gold, with leaves of coral and blossoms of jewels and rubies, whose very words are fruits of jewels. Where the previous shalok's tree was gentle and green, this one blazes with preciousness, to say something about the worth of what the teacher offers: every word from such a teacher is a jewel, more valuable than any earthly treasure. And the source of all that preciousness is named: within His Heart, He beholds the Lord. The teacher can offer jewels because the teacher is, inwardly, always gazing on the One; the radiance is reflected light.
The shalok then makes one of the tradition's characteristic moves against ritual pilgrimage: the sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage are contained in the constant worship of the feet of the Exalted Guru. In Guru Nanak's world, visiting the sixty-eight great pilgrimage sites was the height of religious merit. He gathers all of it into one humble act: staying at the teacher's feet. You do not need to travel to sixty-eight holy places; the whole of their holiness is present wherever a soul humbly attends the Guru. The outer journey is replaced by the inner posture.
And the shalok ends with a stark warning, naming four of the great inner enemies as four rivers of fire: cruelty, material attachment, greed and anger — nindya/moha/lobh/krodh. They are rivers because they flow and sweep you along; fire because they burn. Fall into these currents and one is burned. And the rescue? One is saved only by holding tight to good deeds. Against the four rivers of fire, the lifeline is virtue — good and kind action, clung to like a rope while the fiery currents rush past. The image is vivid and practical: the world is crossed by rivers of fire (cruelty, attachment, greed, anger), and the soul stays unburned not by cleverness but by gripping goodness tightly and keeping its eyes on the jewel-bearing tree of the Guru.
Which of the 'four rivers of fire' — cruelty, attachment, greed, anger — pulls hardest at you, and what good is the rope you could grip instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI