Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Coat paper or salt in ghee, and it stays dry even underwater.
The lotus sits in the pond, yet the water never soaks in.
The devotees of the One live like that: in the middle of everything, yet unspoiled.
Nanak, Your servant, says: whoever meets devotees like these, what can death do to them?
People who love the One can live in a messy world and stay clean inside.
The verse gives two pictures. Paper or salt coated in ghee, which is clarified butter, stays dry even in water. And the kamal, the lotus, grows in a pond, yet the water never soaks its petals.
Think of a raincoat. You can walk right through the storm and stay dry underneath. That is how these people live: in the middle of everything, yet unspoiled.
The last line asks, tin jam ki-aa karai — what can death do to them? Jam is the messenger of death. The question is not a threat. It is a comfort. People who live close to the One, and those who spend time with them, have nothing to fear, even at the end.
How can you be fully part of something without letting it change who you are?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI