Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am a sacrifice to the True Guru.
I was wandering in doubt — and He has set me on the right path.
If the Lord casts His Glance of Grace, He unites us with Himself.
Personal testimony. Satgur kurbaan jaa-ee-ai, mai bharam-i bhulaai-aa — I am a sacrifice to the True Guru; I was wandering in delusion (bharam-i — in doubt and confusion, bhulaai-aa — caused to stray, led astray). The speaker acknowledges their own prior condition: wandering, deluded, lost. And the Guru set them on the right path (raah-u bataai-aa — showed the way, pointed out the road).
Nadar kar-ay ta milaa-ay — if the Lord casts His Glance of Grace (nadar), He unites (milaa-ay) with Himself. The nadar teaching again: the meeting with the Guru that produced the path-knowledge was itself an act of divine grace. The Guru showed the path because the Lord's nadar fell. The chain of grace: nadar → Guru meeting → path shown → Name chanted → union.
The dual appearance of "I am a sacrifice to the True Guru" in this composition (also Pauri4) is significant. In Pauri4, it was the response to the statement that "even angels long for the Guru." Here it is the response to personal memory: I was wandering, He found me. The same devotion expressed from two angles: cosmic (even angels want this) and personal (I was lost and He found me).
Have you ever been lost — spiritually, emotionally, in terms of direction — and found that something or someone showed you a path? What happened?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI