Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Abandoning all devices and contrivances — I have sought His Sanctuary.
Nanak has fallen at the Feet of the Guru.
After all the searching, Guru Arjan lets go of every clever plan and rests in the Guru's care.
Sagal ukat upaavaa ti-aagee: "I have let go of all my tricks and plans." Upaav means a method, a strategy, a way of trying to get something done. Every path in the list was an upaav, a method for reaching God.
Saran paavaa: "I have come to His shelter." Saran means refuge, a safe place where you are looked after.
This is not giving up. It is giving up one thing: the idea that we can reach God by being clever. The methods are not bad. But making plans is the ego's game, and the ego is the proud "me" inside us. Nearness to the Lord is not won by planning. It is received as a gift, by grace, which means love we did not earn.
Naanak gur charan paraataa: "Nanak has fallen at the Guru's feet." Not "I found the best method." Not "I became the perfect seeker." Just trust.
Think of a lost child who stops running around looking for the way home. They take their parent's hand. The search that began with "I do not know" ends in that hand.
What would it feel like to genuinely give up trying to figure out the path — not to give up, but to surrender the strategy and simply fall at the Teacher's feet?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI