Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Where are all the great kings now, and all their crowds? They had their day, and then they moved on, as everyone does.
Nanak says: the teaching of the True Guru is a ladder we climb, step by step. And the One — unseen, gentle, always here — is what remains when everything else has passed.
Rayat raajay kahaa sabaa-ay — where are all the kings and their subjects now? The great and the small alike move on. What endures is the alakh nivaasee, the Unseen One who dwells within all. The pa-orhee, the ladder of the Guru's teaching, is the way up. Memento mori here is gentle: not dread, but perspective — only the Unseen remains, and it is close.
What is something that will still matter long after today's big worries have passed?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI