Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The knife is Truth, and its steel is all Truth.
Its making is beautiful beyond compare.
It is sharpened on the stone of the Word,
and kept in a sheath of virtue.
If the Shaykh is cut with that knife, the blood of greed will pour out.
Whoever is offered up in this way is joined to the One.
Nanak says: at the One's door, they are taken into the blessed sight of the One.
The knife worth having is made of Truth, sharpened on the Shabad and kept in a sheath of virtue, and what it cuts away is lobh, greed. When greed drains out, the heart is joined to the One and taken into the One's blessed sight.
The picture comes from ritual slaughter, which a Shaykh, a Muslim religious leader, would perform. Guru Nanak turns the outer ritual inward: the offering that counts is a person's own greed. He makes the same move with Hindu and yogic rituals elsewhere in this Vaar, so the point reaches every tradition alike, and no person is the target.
What would you want the knife of truth to trim away in you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI