Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
We each act within a flow far larger than ourselves. Run in a hundred directions, and still what is written for you is what you receive.
Without grace, nothing is found, even if you wander the whole world.
Meeting the Guru, a loving awe wakes up, and every smaller fear falls away.
Out of that awe, a gentle stepping-back from the world's rush begins, and the search for the One is on.
Searching and searching, a quiet wisdom rises, and the coming and going is over.
Holding the One in my heart, I have found shelter with the saints.
Guru Nanak is the boat: whoever the One sets aboard is carried safely across the stormy sea of the world.
The whole inner journey, from fear to safe arrival, in a single pauri.
It begins by saying we act within a flow far bigger than ourselves. You can run in a hundred directions, but you receive what is written for you. Without karmaa, grace, nothing is found.
Then the journey starts. Meeting the Guru, a bha-o wakes up. It is often called the "fear of God," but it means loving awe, not terror. It is the feeling you get standing under a huge night sky. That one big awe makes all the smaller fears go away.
From awe comes bairaag, a gentle stepping-back from the rush of the world. Then the search for the One begins. Khojat khojat sahj upji-aa — searching and searching, a calm wisdom rises, and the coming and going ends.
The verse ends with a boat. The Guru is the bohith, the ship. Whoever the One places on it is carried across the stormy sea of the world.
When has feeling wonder at something big made your worries feel small?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI