His coming and going in reincarnation is ended; forever and ever, he is at peace. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In plain words
He calls himself a Pandit, a scholar, yet wanders down many roads, hard inside like beans that will not cook.
Full of clinging and always lost in doubt, he cannot hold still.
False is his coming and false his going; he is always on the lookout for Maya — money and things.
When someone speaks the truth, he gets irritated; he is full of anger inside.
Caught in wrong thinking and muddled cleverness, the foolish one's mind is stuck in clinging.
The cheat keeps company with the five cheats inside — wanting, anger and the rest — all of one kind.
When the True Guru, the Jeweler, tests him, he turns out to be plain iron.
Mixed in with others, he passed as genuine in many places; now the cover is pulled off, and he stands there for all to see.
Whoever comes to the True Guru for shelter is turned from iron into gold.
The True Guru holds no hate, and looks on a son and an enemy alike; the Guru cuts away faults and makes the body pure.
Nanak says: the one with this written on their forehead from the start loves the True Guru.
The perfect True Guru's word is sweet nectar; it lives in the heart of the one the Guru blesses.
Their coming and going is ended, and they are at peace forever and ever.
The True Guru meets even an enemy without hate — and turns plain iron into gold.
The deeper layer
Even plain iron can become gold in the Guru's hands.
It begins with a pandit, a learned scholar. He knows a lot, yet he is restless and quick to anger. Korarh moth jinayhaa — he is like hard beans that stay hard no matter how long they cook. The learning never softened him inside.
He is a close cousin of the crane in an earlier verse. The crane looks holy standing still, but it is only waiting for fish. Both show the same thing: looking holy on the outside is not the same as being good inside. The point is about any showy learning, not about scholars as people.
Then comes a test. The satgur saraaf — the True Guru as a jeweler — checks the metal. The pretending shows, and it turns out to be plain iron.
But here is the wonderful turn. Fir manoorahu kanchan hohaa — whoever comes to the Guru for shelter is turned from iron into gold. Kanchan means gold.
The heart of this verse is one beautiful word: nirvair, without hate. Satgur nirvair putar satar samaanay — the True Guru has no hate and treats a child and an enemy the same. This is the One described at the very start of the Guru Granth Sahib, in the Mool Mantar: fearless and free of hate. Here we see it lived out.
Think of a good coach who gets a player who has messed up again and again. The coach does not hold a grudge. The coach just keeps helping until the player shines.
A Question to Sit With
What would change if you treated someone who bugs you exactly like a friend?
