Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Through the Guru's Teachings, I have cultivated within my mind the Great Giver — the Life of the World.
Night and day, devotional worship removes ego and emotional attachment.
And then — attuned to Him — we become like Him. We are truly absorbed in the True One.
Jag jeevan daataa ridi-ai dhiaa-ee-ai, gur kai sabad bi-aahai — through the Guru's Teachings, I cultivate within my mind (ridi-ai dhiaa-ee-ai — contemplate in the heart) the Great Giver. Bi-aahai (establish, settle, cultivate) — the Guru's Shabad is how the divine gets settled in the mind. Not a single moment of decision but a practice of cultivation: tending the mind the way a garden is tended.
Din raat bhagat kar aath pahaar, ha-umai moh binaahai — night and day, performing devotional worship across the eight watches (aath pahaar — the eight traditional divisions of the day), ego (ha-umai) and emotional attachment (moh) are removed (binaahai — destroyed, dissolved). The eight watches = the whole day, all the time. The implication: this is not an occasional spiritual exercise but the orientation of the entire life. And what it removes: haumai and moh — precisely the two conditions that have appeared across the ashtapadees as the root causes of wandering and suffering.
Sarang saroop ho-ay milai prabh, saachay saach samaahai — attuned to (sarang — the same color, the same form), we become like Him; we merge with the True One in truth. Sarang saroop (same color, same form) — the soul that is dyed in the divine's color through devotion becomes the same color as the divine. Not identical in substance but matching in orientation, in love, in truth. The soul that keeps the divine's color — that stays dyed — merges completely.
What practice in your life, done consistently, has actually changed you — not just as a habit but in who you are?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI