Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is only One. And the One is found by the True Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.
Your mind is a small room inside the house of your body, and the door of that room is locked by the things you cling to. The Guru is the key. When the key turns, the door swings open and light pours in.
Nanak says: without the Guru, the door of the mind stays shut. No other hand holds the key.
The Guru is the key to the locked room of the mind.
Here the Saarang ki Vaar of the Fourth Mehl begins, sung to the tune of Mehma-Hasna, with Ik Onkar and the grace of the true Guru. That grace is known the way you notice sunlight the moment you step out of the shadow. The shalok of the Second Mehl gives the governing image: the Guru is a key (kunjee), attachment is the lock, the mind is the room (kothaa), the body its roof. Without the Guru's key, the door of the mind will not open — an image the Vaar returns to later at the treasure-keepers' pauri.
What is something you hold onto so tightly that it keeps a door in you closed?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI