Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Without the Guru, virtues do not shine forth. And without virtue, there is no devotional worship.
The Lord is the Lover of His devotees. He abides within their minds. They meet that God with intuitive ease.
O Nanak — through the Shabad, praise the Lord. By His Grace, He is obtained.
This last part links it all together: the Guru brings out goodness, goodness makes devotion possible, and grace does the rest.
Bin gur gun na jaapnee: without the Guru, our gun, good qualities, don't shine. Bin gun bhagat na ho-ay: without goodness, there's no devotion. It's a chain: the Guru, then goodness, then devotion. Take the Guru out and the chain breaks. The goodness that makes devotion possible doesn't grow on its own. It grows as the Guru changes a person. Think of a seed and a gardener. The seed has the flower in it, but it takes a gardener's care to bring it out.
Bhagat vachhal har man vasi-aa: the One is bhagat vachhal, the One who loves and cherishes devotees, and lives in their minds. This isn't a king looking down from above. It is the One's natural pull toward those who have turned toward the One. Sahj mili-aa parabh so-ay: they meet that God easily. No heroic last push is needed. It comes naturally, from the goodness the Guru has grown and the love the One already has for them.
Naanak sabday har salaahee-ai karam paraapat ho-ay: Nanak says, praise the One through the Shabad; by grace, the One is found. This comes back to the Shabad and to grace, the two threads that run through this whole eight-part song. They aren't tricks or techniques. They describe a heart.
What virtues do you most want to cultivate — and what might be the relationship between those virtues and whatever you recognize as the Guru's influence in your life?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI