ਮਃ ੩ ॥
mehlaa 3.
Third Mehl:
ਆਪੇ ਕਰਣੀ ਕਾਰ ਆਪਿ ਆਪੇ ਕਰੇ ਰਜਾਇ ॥
aapay karnee kaar aap aapay karay rajaa-ay.
He Himself is the Doer, and He is the deed; He Himself issues the Command.
ਆਪੇ ਕਿਸ ਹੀ ਬਖਸਿ ਲਏ ਆਪੇ ਕਾਰ ਕਮਾਇ ॥
aapay kis hee bakhas la-ay aapay kaar kamaa-ay.
He Himself forgives some, and He Himself does the deed.
ਨਾਨਕ ਚਾਨਣੁ ਗੁਰ ਮਿਲੇ ਦੁਖ ਬਿਖੁ ਜਾਲੀ ਨਾਇ ॥੨॥
naanak chaanan gur milay dukh bikh jaalee naa-ay. ||2||
O Nanak, receiving the Divine Light from the Guru, suffering and corruption are burnt away, through the Name. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One is the one who acts, and is also the very action itself.
The One sets everything in motion, forgives freely, and does what is done.
Nanak says: when the Guru's light reaches me, the tangles of pain and wrongdoing burn away in the warmth of the Naam.
The One is not a distant director but the doing itself, woven through everything.
A shalok of the Third Mehl. This is the Vaar's recurring aapay ('He Himself') theme: the One is not separate from the doing of the world but is doer, deed and the giving of the command all at once. Forgiveness and the burning-away of suffering are part of the same single activity.
A Question to Sit With
Have you ever noticed how something and the one doing it can feel like one whole thing?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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