Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Nanak says: listen, O mind, to the true teaching.
The One will open the book and ask for an honest account of each life, like a shopkeeper checking the ledger.
Those who rebelled and still owe will be called out.
Azraa-eel, the angel who comes at the end of life, will be sent to punish them.
They find no way out of the coming and going, stuck on a narrow, crowded path.
Falsehood runs out, O Nanak, and in the end Truth is what stays.
Whatever is false will run out, and Truth will stand at the end.
Laykhaa rab mangaysee-aa means "the One will ask for the account." Think of a shopkeeper's ledger, the notebook where every sale is written down. Nothing we do just disappears. Life keeps an honest record.
Guru Nanak uses words his Muslim neighbors would know well. Rab is a name for God. Ajraa-eel (Azrael) is the name the Muslim tradition gives to the angel who comes at the end of life. Those who kept running from the truth find themselves on a narrow, crowded path, with no easy way out of coming and going.
The heart of the verse is the last line. Koorh nikhutay naankaa orhak sach rahee means "falsehood runs out, Nanak, and in the end truth remains." Think of a sandcastle and a rock on the beach. The waves wash the sandcastle away, but the rock is still there in the morning. Truth is like that rock.
What is something true that has outlasted a lie in your life?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI