Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
From the Guru's treasury comes the most precious thing of all: love for the pure, immaculate Name.
We gather the truest merchandise, through the Guru's perfect and infinite grace.
The True Guru gives peace. The True Guru drives away suffering. The True Guru defeats the forces within us that would destroy us.
The Guru's treasury (gur bhandaarai) continues from Pauri 2. What is kept there? Not gold or jewels in the ordinary sense — but nirmal naam pi-aar (love of the immaculate Name). The immaculate (nirmal) quality of the Name is its purity: it cannot be corrupted, cheapened, or depleted. It is infinite and spotless.
Saacho vakhar sancheeai — we gather in the true merchandise. Vakhar (merchandise) is the trader's goods — what you accumulate through your dealings in the world. In this world, people accumulate wealth, status, property, family name. The Gurmukh accumulates the true merchandise: the Name, obtained through poorai karam apaar — the perfect and infinite grace. Not earned; received.
Asur sanghaar — destroyer of demons. In the classical mythology Guru Nanak's listeners knew, the demons (asur) were forces opposed to truth and order — not cartoon monsters but the inner forces of ego, delusion, Maya. The True Guru is their destroyer. Not through combat but through the light that makes darkness simply cease to exist. You cannot fight a demon in the dark. The Guru brings the lamp.
What is the most valuable thing you have ever received that money cannot buy?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI