ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਤੇਰਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਹੈ ਦੁਖ ਮੇਟਣਹਾਰਾ ॥
har har tayraa naam hai dukh maytanhaaraa.
Your Name, O Lord, Har, Har, is the Destroyer of sorrow.
ਗੁਰ ਸੇਵਾ ਤੇ ਪਾਈਐ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਨਿਸਤਾਰਾ ॥੪॥
gur sayvaa tay paa-ee-ai gurmukh nistaaraa. ||4||
Serving the Guru, it is obtained, and as Gurmukh, one is emancipated. ||4||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Your Name, One, is the destroyer of sorrow.
Serving the teaching, it is found, and facing the teaching, one is set free.
The Name is the destroyer of sorrow — not a way to endure it, but to undo it at the root.
The verse names the Name "the Destroyer of sorrow" — the medicine of the raag reappears. And it locates how the Name is found: "serving the Guru," facing the teaching. Sorrow is not argued away or merely endured; it is destroyed at the root by the Name, which the teaching hands us. The path to the sorrow-destroyer runs through the humble service of the teaching.
A Question to Sit With
What sorrow would you love to see 'destroyed' at the root rather than just managed?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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