ਸਫਲ ਸੇਵਾ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਮੇਰੇ ਕੀ ਮਨ ਬਾਂਛਤ ਫਲ ਪਾਵਹੁ ॥
safal sayvaa su-aamee mayray kee man baaNchhat fal paavhu.
Service to my Lord and Master is fruitful and rewarding; from Him, you shall obtain the fruits of your mind's desires.
ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਲਾਭੁ ਲਾਹਾ ਲੈ ਚਾਲਹੁ ਸੁਖ ਸੇਤੀ ਘਰਿ ਜਾਵਹੁ ॥੨॥੫੦॥੭੩॥
kaho naanak laabh laahaa lai chaalahu sukh saytee ghar jaavhu. ||2||50||73||
Says Nanak, take your profits and leave; you shall go to your true home in peace. ||2||50||73||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Turning toward the One is never wasted work; from that One you receive the very thing your heart was reaching for.
Nanak says, gather your earnings and travel on, and you will arrive home in peace.
The only earnings you carry home are the ones you gathered inside.
Turning toward the One always bears fruit, and its earnings travel home with you.
Safal sayvaa — service that bears fruit; man baaNchhat fal — the fruit the heart longed for. The merchant image — laabh laahaa lai chaalahu, take your profit and go — recasts life as a journey whose earnings are inner. Ghar jaavhu — going home — is arriving where you belong.
A Question to Sit With
If you could only take home things you cannot hold in your hands, what would you want most?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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