Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When the loud, grabby self goes quiet, your heart comes freshly alive.
The clinging and the 'mine, mine' fall away, and what's left is clean and light.
When the loud, grabbing "me" goes quiet, the heart comes alive again.
Guru Amar Das signs this last line with the name Nanak. He says a person who meets the True Guru "dies," then lives again through the Guru's Word. The "dying" here is not about the body. It means the bossy, selfish part of us steps aside. Sikhs call this jeevat marnaa, being alive while that old self lets go.
Think of a tight fist that finally opens. Now the hand can hold something new. Mamtaa kee mal utrai: the dirt of "mine, mine" washes off. Ih man hachhaa ho-ay: and this mind becomes clean.
That is the whole shabad in one picture. Real cleanliness is inside. It comes when the grabbing self goes quiet and the heart is made new.
How does it feel to let go of wanting to keep everything for yourself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI