Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Serving the Guru is not easy — it asks you to set down your pride, the loud “me first” voice, and let it go.
But once that grabbing self quiets for good, it does not come roaring back, and your whole way of living is finally at peace.
There is an old idea of a magic stone that turns plain metal to gold just by touching it. Stay close to what is real, and something like that happens to you: touched by the teaching, you become like it.
Whoever is ready meets the Guru at just the right time — as if the whole thing was gently arranged.
Nanak says: in the end it is never about keeping score. Grace welcomes you — a gift, freely given, not a prize you earned.
Paaras is the philosopher's stone, the classic Gurbani figure for change by contact: paaras parsi-ai paaras hovai, touch the stone and become the stone. “Offer your head” (sir deejai aap gavaa-ay) means setting down haumai, the ego, the loud “me first” voice. Sabad mareh fir naa mareh — “die in the Shabad and never die again” — is the grabbing self going quiet for good. The closing is pure grace: gantai sayvak naa milai... jis bakhsay so pavai thaa-ay — you are welcomed freely, as a gift, whatever your account adds up to.
If being near something good can slowly change you into something good, what would you want to stay near?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI