Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O mind, serve the True Guru, and you will reach the highest state.
Stay steady, untouched by joy and by sorrow, like a rock the waves wash over. Then you will find the One, the Lord of your life.
Stay steady through joy and sorrow, and you find the One who is the Lord of your life.
This is the rahao, the pause line, the center of the shabad. "Param gatay" is the highest state; "harakh sog" is joy and sorrow; "niraaraa" means untouched, unattached. The teaching is sahaj: a root so deep that praise and pain no longer knock you over. To serve the Guru here means to live by the Guru's teaching.
Can you remember a time a small thing upset you so much you couldn't see clearly? What would staying steady have looked like?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI