Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O doctor, you are a good doctor if you first find out what the illness is.
Look for the kind of medicine that clears away every kind of sickness.
Give the medicine that lifts the illness, so that peace comes to stay in the body.
Nanak says: only when you are rid of your own illness will you be called a doctor.
A good healer first finds the illness, and first heals their own.
This salok is by Guru Angad, the second Guru, and it answers Guru Nanak's salok before it. Pahilaan rog pachhaan: first recognize the illness. Rog gavaa-eh aapnaa: get rid of your own illness. The deepest sickness here is haumai, ego, the feeling of being a separate self. A healer who has tended that sickness in themselves can help others from a place of peace.
Think of a lifeguard. They learn to swim strongly first, and only then can they pull someone else from the water.
What would you need to heal in yourself before helping someone else with it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI