Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Your Name is a treasure-chest of jewels, Lord. You are the true Banker who holds all the real wealth, and the one who loves you is your trader, dealing in your Name.
The trade of those who carry your wealth is the only true business there is. Nanak gives himself to you, forever.
The shabad closes with the merchant metaphor that Guru Nanak used in the great Vaar and that Guru Arjan takes up here: the spiritual life as trade, and the One as the great Banker. Your Name is the treasure of jewels. The Name is the precious capital, a chest of gems. You are the True Banker; Your devotee is the trader. The One is the Saahu, the wealthy banker who holds all the real capital; the devotee is the vanjaaraa, the trader who comes to deal in the One's jewels — to carry the Name out into the world and live by it.
And the verdict on this trade: true is the trade of those who have the wealth of the Lord's assets. Against all the world's commerce in things that fade — the petty trading the Vaar described, glass mistaken for gems — the trade in the Name is the one true business, because its capital is real and lasting. The soul that deals in the Name is the only merchant who will not, in the end, be found bankrupt. And the shabad ends, as these shabads love to, in self-offering: servant Nanak is forever a sacrifice. Having received the jewel-Name from the great Banker, the trader-soul gives back the only thing it truly has — itself. It is the perfect close: the Name is the treasure, the One is the Banker, devotion is the true trade, and the surrendered self is the final, glad payment.
What 'business' are you really trading your life in — and is its capital the kind that lasts?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI