Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
People spend so much time sorting the world into higher and lower, this class and that status, this group and that group — and it keeps everyone wandering, a little lost. Those labels are a mistake.
The sweet, living Word of the Guru points past all of that to what matters. The One made everything by the Hukam, keeps it in the Hukam, and watches over it with care. Nanak says the one thing worth breaking is the ego — that feeling of being a separate, ranked self. When it breaks, you are welcomed just as you are.
High and low, caste and class are a confusion; the One holds everyone the same way.
Utam madhim jaatee jinsee bharam bhavai sansaar — high and low, caste and class: the world wanders lost in this confusion. Guru Angad, the second Guru, sets all of that aside. Amrit banee tat vakhaanee — the nectar-sweet Word speaks the heart of the matter, with wisdom and stillness inside it. Hukam saaj hukmai vich rakhai — the One makes the world by the Hukam, the One's will, and keeps it there. Agahu ha-umai tutai — when haumai, the proud separate self, breaks, a person is welcomed.
Why do you think people are so quick to sort others into higher and lower — and what would it feel like to stop?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI