Meeting the True Guru, one obtains the Name; O Nanak, he is absorbed in peace. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In plain words
A mind run by ego is stubborn and hard to steer, forever pulled after this and that; peace slips away even in its dreams.
Scholars have read book after book, and deep meditators have sat in long stillness, all trying to master this restless mind.
People have tried special clothes and long journeys to holy places, and still the mind will not simply be told what to do.
But when reverence and wonder finally soften the heart, something shifts, and a great fortune arrives: the One comes to live inside.
Then the mind grows quiet, ego melts away in the Word, and your small light merges into the great Light — and you rest in peace.
The restless mind is not conquered by effort — it settles when the heart softens into wonder.
The deeper layer
No outside practice can calm a restless mind, but awe and love can.
Guru Amar Das looks at many honest paths. There are pandits, scholars, reading from house to house. There are siddhas, yogis, sitting in samaaDh, deep stillness. There are seekers in special clothes, bathing at the athsath tirath, the sixty-eight holy places. And he gently notes: ih man vas na aavee, this mind is not tamed that way.
This is fair to every tradition. It points at doing things only on the outside, wherever that shows up.
The turn comes with bha-o. Here it means awe, the deep respect that softens the heart. Then ha-umai sabad jalaa-ay: the ego is burned away by the Word. And jotee jot milaa-ay: your small light joins the great Light, like one candle flame touching a bonfire.
Study and stillness are not bad. They come alive when the heart opens.
A Question to Sit With
Have you noticed that forcing yourself to calm down rarely works, but something you love can quiet you instantly?
