The four Gurus enlightened the four ages; the Lord Himself assumed the fifth form. ||8||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In plain words
Four Gurus lit up the four ages, and the One took the fifth form.
The One made itself, and is itself the pillar that holds everything up.
The One is the paper, the pen, and the writer too.
All who follow come and go. The One alone stays fresh and new.
Guru Arjan sits on the throne, and the True Guru's canopy shines above him.
From sunrise to sunset, his light reaches all four directions.
Those who follow only themselves and will not serve the Guru come to the end of life in shame.
The wonder grows two times, four times over: the True One's true gift.
Four Gurus lit up the four ages, and the One took the fifth form.
The same story of love keeps being written, in one age after another.
The deeper layer
Guru Arjan, the fifth, who would gather the great scripture, now sits on the throne. Aapay patee kalam aap: the One is the paper, the pen, and the writer, so the whole unfolding comes from a single hand.
'Panchaa-in' means the fifth. The Vaar is a song about how one light keeps being handed on, age after age.
A Question to Sit With
If your life were a page, what story would you want written on it?
