Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In the third watch of the night, the mind gets wrapped up in the business of life — money, possessions, the household's endless needs. All this thinking about wealth, gathering wealth, while the Name goes unremembered.
But this wealth is false — it will not come with you. In the end, the only thing that will actually be there for you is the Lord's presence. That is your only real companion.
Those who the Lord draws close — those He unites with the Guru — they keep the Naam alive in their hearts.
Says Nanak: in the third watch, those who hold the Name go and are united with the Lord.
"The Name would be your Helper in the end"
Har nāmā har har kade na samālai, ji hovai ant sakhā'ī — "you never dwell upon the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, who will be your only Helper and Support in the end." The word sakhā'ī (helper, companion, friend who stands by you) is a key word in Guru Ram Das's vocabulary. He returns to it in multiple compositions. The Name is not just a practice or a discipline. It is the one relationship that is still present when everything else has gone.
This is not mystical abstraction. Guru Ram Das is making a practical claim: at the moment of death, every worldly attachment will have dissolved. The wealth will be left. The family will be left. The reputation will be left. What stays? The Name — the accumulated inner recognition of the divine — is what the soul carries.
"Sorrow at departure"
Ih dhan sampai māiā jhūthī, ant chhod chali-ā pachhtā'ī — "this wealth, property and Maya are false; in the end you must leave them, and depart in sorrow." The word pachhtā'ī — sorrow, regret — is the emotional signature of this pauri. The soul that has invested everything in what cannot follow it arrives at death in regret. The investment was real; the returns are not.
"By the Guru's grace, united with the Lord"
Jis no kirpā karay gur melai, so har har nām samāl — "those whom the Lord, in His Mercy, unites with the Guru, reflect upon the Name." The Guru's grace is not separate from the Lord's grace. This is a consistent teaching in Guru Ram Das: the Guru is the gateway, not a separate authority. To be united with the Guru is to be brought closer to the Lord — and the fruit of that union is keeping the Naam alive in daily life.
*When you think about what you're actually spending your energy accumulating this week, does it feel like something that will still matter at the end?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI