Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Call permanent only the One who does not have destiny inscribed upon His forehead.
The sky shall pass away. The earth shall pass away. He alone is permanent.
This line says: only the One who has no "fate" written for Him truly lasts forever. Even the sky and the earth will pass.
Mukaam tis no aakhee-ai: call only Him lasting, jis sis na hovee laykh, on whose forehead no laykh is written. Laykh means writing. In old Indian teaching, each person's life story, and even their number of breaths, is "written on the forehead."
Everyone has that writing. It is the mark of living inside time, with a beginning and an end. Only the One has no such writing. No one wrote His story for Him. He is the one who writes.
That is what "lasting" truly means: not being ruled by time at all. Think of an author and a book. Characters in the story live and move and finish. The author is not a character in the book.
Asmaan dhartee chalsee: the asmaan, sky, and the dhartee, earth, will pass away. Mukaam ohee ayk: He alone lasts.
The circle has grown very wide now. First people, then great teachers, then kings. Now even the sky above and the ground below. And through it all, the One stays, forever true.
What in your life do you most need to be permanent — and how do you handle the knowledge that it might not be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI