Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
By the Lord's Command, people perform their actions. They wander around, driven by the karma of their past actions.
By the Lord's Command, they behold the blessed vision of the Divine. Wherever He sends them — they go.
By His Command, the Lord abides within the mind. By His Command, we merge in Truth.
Hukam kari-ai jeea janmaa-ay, hukam karmee bharam bhavaa-ay — by the Lord's Command (hukam), beings are born; by His Command, the karma of past actions causes them to wander in error (bharam). The hukam frames everything: birth, wandering, the karma that produces wandering. This is not fatalism — it is the recognition that the divine's will (hukam) encompasses even the wandering of the ego. Nothing is outside it.
Hukam darasan paa-ee-ai, jit bhaavai tit hi lavaa-ay — by His Command, the blessed vision (darasan) is obtained; wherever He wills, there He sends them. The darasan (direct vision of the divine) is also within the hukam. Even the grace that ends wandering is the divine's Command operating. This places the entire spiritual journey within a single frame: everything is within hukam, and hukam is the expression of the divine's nature.
Hukam man vasai, hukmai saach samaa-ay — by His Command, the Lord dwells in the mind; by His Command, we merge in Truth. Nanak would add at the close: this is why acceptance of hukam (hukam rajai chalna) is the foundational teaching. Not passive resignation but the recognition that the divine will runs through everything — and alignment with it is liberation itself.
What would change about how you experience difficult circumstances if you genuinely held that even the difficulty is within the divine's Hukam?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI