Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O mind — work to serve the Guru.
If you walk in harmony with the Guru's Will, you shall remain immersed in the Lord's Name, night and day.
Man gur kee sev kamaavai — O mind, work to serve the Guru. The rahao is a direct instruction, and it is specifically about work: kamaavai (to earn, to work toward, to practice as labor). The Guru's service is not passive reception — it is active, practiced, worked-toward. This does not contradict the theme of grace; rather, the work of service is the activity through which grace flows. You work to serve; the grace comes through the service.
Gur kee baan-ee mann vasai, raat din har gun gaavai — if the Guru's Bani (the divine teaching) comes to dwell (vasai) in the mind, night and day you shall sing the Lord's praises. The dwelling of the Bani in the mind is the fruit of the service. The mind that has done the work of serving the Guru becomes a home for the Bani, and a home for the Bani sings praises naturally — night and day (raat din). Not as an obligation but as the natural expression of having the Bani living inside.
The rahao frames the soul-bird teaching: the bird that pecks Truth has done the work of orienting toward the Guru. That work (kamaavai) is what allows the Bani to settle in the mind. And once the Bani is settled there, the bird's pecking becomes the natural activity of a being at home in its tree.
What does it look like in practice to 'work to serve the Guru' in your daily life — not in principle, but actually?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI