The Medicine of Love

ਮਃ ੩ ॥

mehlaa 3.

Third Mehl:

ਜੀਵਤ ਮਰਣਾ ਸਭੁ ਕੋ ਕਹੈ ਜੀਵਨ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਕਿਉ ਹੋਇ ॥

jeevat marnaa sabh ko kahai jeevan mukat ki-o ho-ay.

Everyone can say that they are dead while yet alive; how can they be liberated while yet alive?

ਭੈ ਕਾ ਸੰਜਮੁ ਜੇ ਕਰੇ ਦਾਰੂ ਭਾਉ ਲਾਏਇ ॥

bhai kaa sanjam jay karay daaroo bhaa-o laa-ay-ay.

If someone restrains himself through the Fear of God, and takes the medicine of the Love of God,

ਅਨਦਿਨੁ ਗੁਣ ਗਾਵੈ ਸੁਖ ਸਹਜੇ ਬਿਖੁ ਭਵਜਲੁ ਨਾਮਿ ਤਰੇਇ ॥

an-din gun gaavai sukh sehjay bikh bhavjal naam taray-ay.

night and day, he sings the Glorious Praises of the Lord. In celestial peace and poise, he crosses over the poisonous, terrifying world-ocean, through the Naam, the Name of the Lord.

ਨਾਨਕ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਪਾਈਐ ਜਾ ਕਉ ਨਦਰਿ ਕਰੇਇ ॥੩॥

naanak gurmukh paa-ee-ai jaa ka-o nadar karay-i. ||3||

O Nanak, the Gurmukh finds the Lord; he is blessed with His Glance of Grace. ||3||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

Everyone says, "Be dead while still alive." But how do you become free while still alive?

Hold yourself steady with reverence for the One, and take love as your medicine.

Night and day, sing the One's praise. In calm, easy peace, you cross the poisonous, frightening sea of the world through the Naam.

Nanak says: the one who follows the Guru finds the One, when the One looks on them with grace.

Love is the medicine, and singing is how you take it.

The deeper layer

Everyone can say dead-while-alive; living it takes bhai kaa sanjam, the self-restraint that grows from reverence, and daaroo bhaa-o, love taken as medicine, along with singing night and day. The crossing of the world-ocean happens in sahaj, peace and poise, through the Name, and it lands, as always, on grace.

A Question to Sit With

What is a hard sea you crossed by keeping something close?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

About this shabad →

← Verse 13 of 74 How Is the Mind Won Over?

Verse 15 of 74 →Everything Is Your Play

Use ← → to navigate