Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Beholding your family, you are lured away by emotional attachment. But when you leave, they will not go with you.
Serving the True Guru, I found a Treasure of Excellence whose value cannot be estimated.
The Dear Lord God is my Best Friend. In the end — at the very end — He shall be my Companion and Support.
Kut-umb daykh bin-ith ho-ee, moh lagaa baalaa — beholding the family, you are lured (bin-ith ho-ee — enchanted, pulled away) by emotional attachment (moh). The family is beautiful; the love is real. The attachment that follows from love is natural. But the teaching is clear about what happens at departure: they won't come.
Satgur seva paai-aa nidh-an, jis keemat kahai na kaa-ee — serving the True Guru, I found a Treasure (nidh-an — treasure, store of excellence) whose value cannot be stated. Against the family that won't follow: the Guru's gift that does. Not that the family is worth nothing — but that the Guru's treasure is the one that actually travels.
Prabh mere meet sakhaa prabh meetaa, ant ho-ay sahaa-ee — the Dear Lord God is my meet (intimate companion, best friend), my sakhaa (lifelong friend, companion in the fullest sense). And: ant ho-ay sahaa-ee — at the very end, He shall be my Helper and Support. The image is of the deathbed, the final crossing — where the family stands on one side and cannot cross, and the Friend who has been with you all along is the one who crosses with you. Not because family is inadequate but because the divine Friend is of a different order entirely.
Who do you think of when you imagine the most reliable companionship you've ever experienced — and what made them reliable?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI