Stars fade and mountains pass — but the true Word stays, tied close in the corner of the robe.
The Arc
Look up tonight. The stars feel permanent. So do mountains, oceans, the air you breathe. Every one of them is passing, slowly. So is every creature, born in every way. Even the great old books belong to time. Your moods pass too: busy energy, heavy tiredness, calm brightness, all weather. Everything you can see is on its way to changing. One thing stays. The One is true, true, true. The word the Guru speaks holds steady, so you tie it into the corner of your robe, like a note in your pocket you never lose. The One plays every part, and meeting the Guru opens the door. At the centre, the Rahao: the One is true, the holy are true, and the Perfect Guru's word is tied close.
Key Vocabulary
sach — the real; what endures when everything else washes off.
saadh bachan — the Word of the Holy; what the shabad calls unbreakable.
gaanthri — the knot of the robe; keeping a teaching close at hand.
the four births — the old catalog of every kind of life.
the three gunas — activity, inertia, and calm light; the qualities of changing nature.
aapay aap — the One that is entirely itself; khel — its play.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Sach as the most real, enduring thing is one of Guru Nanak's central words, and this shabad shows its opposite face — everything jhooth, impermanent, that only looks solid. The Ik Onkar close ties it back to the Granth's opening truth.
For Raag Saarang
The raag's ache turns here to a search for the one thing that will not pass — and finds it in the true Word.
Translation Notes
The long list of things that pass away helps you find what lasts. The Vedas and Shastras stand among the passing things the way any book does: all writing belongs to time, while the living Truth behind it endures.
Hukumnama
Subject: The One is true, and the Guru's word stays Preview: fading stars, passing mountains, the old books, three moods like weather, and a knot in a robe.
Today: Look up tonight. The stars feel permanent. So do mountains, oceans, the air you breathe. Every one of them is passing, slowly. So is every creature, born in every way. Even the great old books belong to time. Your moods pass too: busy energy, heavy tiredness, calm brightness, all weather. Everything you can see is on its way to changing. One thing stays. The One is true, true, true. The word the Guru speaks holds steady, so you tie it into the corner of your robe, like a note in your pocket you never lose. The One plays every part, and meeting the Guru opens the door.
Everything passes, and the One and the Guru's word stay.
For today: Pick one line of Gurbani and keep it in your pocket or on your phone all day.
Stars fade and mountains pass — but the true Word stays, tied close in the corner of the robe.
The Arc
Look up tonight. The stars feel permanent. So do mountains, oceans, the air you breathe. Every one of them is passing, slowly. So is every creature, born in every way. Even the great old books belong to time. Your moods pass too: busy energy, heavy tiredness, calm brightness, all weather. Everything you can see is on its way to changing. One thing stays. The One is true, true, true. The word the Guru speaks holds steady, so you tie it into the corner of your robe, like a note in your pocket you never lose. The One plays every part, and meeting the Guru opens the door. At the centre, the Rahao: the One is true, the holy are true, and the Perfect Guru's word is tied close.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Sach as the most real, enduring thing is one of Guru Nanak's central words, and this shabad shows its opposite face — everything jhooth, impermanent, that only looks solid. The Ik Onkar close ties it back to the Granth's opening truth.
For Raag Saarang
The raag's ache turns here to a search for the one thing that will not pass — and finds it in the true Word.
Translation Notes
The long list of things that pass away helps you find what lasts. The Vedas and Shastras stand among the passing things the way any book does: all writing belongs to time, while the living Truth behind it endures.
Hukumnama
Subject: The One is true, and the Guru's word stays Preview: fading stars, passing mountains, the old books, three moods like weather, and a knot in a robe.
Today: Look up tonight. The stars feel permanent. So do mountains, oceans, the air you breathe. Every one of them is passing, slowly. So is every creature, born in every way. Even the great old books belong to time. Your moods pass too: busy energy, heavy tiredness, calm brightness, all weather. Everything you can see is on its way to changing. One thing stays. The One is true, true, true. The word the Guru speaks holds steady, so you tie it into the corner of your robe, like a note in your pocket you never lose. The One plays every part, and meeting the Guru opens the door.
Everything passes, and the One and the Guru's word stay.
For today: Pick one line of Gurbani and keep it in your pocket or on your phone all day.