ਗਿਆਨ ਅੰਜਨੁ ਜਾ ਕੀ ਨੇਤ੍ਰੀ ਪੜਿਆ ਤਾ ਕਉ ਸਰਬ ਪ੍ਰਗਾਸਾ ॥
gi-aan anjan jaa kee naytree parhi-aa taa ka-o sarab pargaasaa.
Everything is clear to one whose eyes are blessed with the ointment of spiritual wisdom.
ਅਗਿਆਨਿ ਅੰਧੇਰੈ ਸੂਝਸਿ ਨਾਹੀ ਬਹੁੜਿ ਬਹੁੜਿ ਭਰਮਾਤਾ ॥੩॥
agi-aan anDhayrai soojhas naahee bahurh bahurh bharmaataa. ||3||
In the darkness of spiritual ignorance, he sees nothing at all; he wanders around in reincarnation, over and over again. ||3||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
With the clear salve of wisdom on the eyes, everything comes into view.
In the fog of not-knowing, we see almost nothing, and keep wandering the same circles.
Wisdom is like clearing your eyes: what was always there suddenly comes into view.
The image is gi-aan anjan — the collyrium (eye-salve) of wisdom — a classic Gurbani figure: understanding as something applied to the eyes that lets you finally see what was always there. Its opposite, agi-aan andhayrai, the dark of not-knowing, keeps a person circling (bahurh bahurh bharmaataa). The reincarnation language is gently read as the circling of a restless, unseeing life.
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