Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Actions done under the pull of the three qualities bring hope and worry.
Without the Guru, how can anyone be set free from these three? When we meet Him in natural ease, we find peace.
In the home of the self, His Mansion is found, when He looks on us with grace and washes our dirt away.
This one says the Guru frees us from the tug-of-war inside that keeps us hoping and worrying.
Old Indian thought spoke of three qualities that run through everything. One is busy activity. One is dullness, like being stuck. One is clarity and goodness. They pull on the soul and keep it going round in the circle of cause and effect, again and again. Guru Nanak meets this idea head-on.
Aas andaysaa ho-ay — from these pulls come hope and worry. Picture a rope pulled three ways at once. You reach for something, then fear losing it. Up and down, all day.
Gurbani speaks of a fourth state, beyond all three. It comes by the Guru's grace. A person living there isn't tossed about by hope and worry, because their peace no longer hangs on how things turn out.
Nadar karay mal Dho-ay — He looks with grace and washes the dirt away. Then the Mansion is found right inside, in your own home.
Can you recognize the pull between wanting something and worrying you won't get it — or fearing losing something you have? What does that cycle feel like in your body?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI