Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Gurmukh is like God's own tree — always green, always alive, blessed with the True One's Love and intuitive peace.
He cuts off the three branches of the three qualities and embraces love for the One Word of the Shabad.
The Lord alone is the Ambrosial Fruit. He Himself gives it to us to eat.
Gurmukh parbh kaa rukh sadaa har-iaa, saach prit sahj bani-aa — the Gurmukh is like God's own tree (parbh kaa rukh — the Lord's tree), always green (sadaa har-iaa — eternally green, never drying), blessed with the True One's love (saach prit) and intuitive peace (sahj bani-aa — in the state of sahj). The contrast with the drying manmukh tree (coming in Pauri 4) is established: green vs. dry. Alive vs. drying. Giving shade vs. giving nothing.
Trai gun katai chauth pad paavai, ik sabad liv laa-ee — he cuts off (katai — cuts, severs) the three branches of the trai gun (three qualities: rajas, tamas, sattva — the three modes of nature that constitute Maya's operation) and attains the chautha paad (the fourth state, beyond the three qualities). He fixes his attention on the One Shabad. The three qualities are the branches that produce the restless coming-and-going, the ego-activity, the suffering of the flying birds. The Gurmukh cuts them. What remains is the trunk, the root, the Shabad — and the fourth state that is beyond Maya's three modes.
Amrit fal har aap hai, aapai khaa-i khavaai — the Lord Himself is the Ambrosial Fruit; He Himself eats it and causes others to eat it. The gift is the Giver. The Fruit is the One who causes the tree to be green. And He gives it through the Gurmukh tree's shadow and fruit.
What are the 'three branches' in your own life — the patterns driven by passion, inertia, and even virtuous striving — that keep you from the fourth state of settled peace?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI