Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In the fourth watch of the night, the Lord announces: it is time to go. The whole night of your life has been passing. Don't delay.
Serve the Guru every single moment, without pause, without hesitation. This is how you become permanent — rooted in something that doesn't end.
Live in the joy that comes from being close to the Lord. The pain of being born and dying over and over — let it dissolve. Know that the Guru and the Lord are not two different things. Take delight in that devotion.
Says Nanak: in the fourth watch, the life-night of the devotee is fulfilled.
"Serve every instant — do not delay"
Har sevahu khin khin dhil mūl na karihu — "serve the Lord each and every instant — do not delay at all." This is the most urgent line in Guru Ram Das's Pehray, and its urgency is earned by everything that came before. Three watches have passed. The fourth watch is the last one. The call to serve khin khin — instant by instant, breath by breath — is not because there was time to waste earlier. It is because whatever time remains is precious, and every moment of it can be redirected.
Becoming eternal through service
Jit asthir jug jug hovhu — "so that you become eternal throughout the ages." Service to the Lord in the fourth watch is not a desperate last-minute scramble. Guru Ram Das is describing a transformation: the soul that turns to the Lord even now, even in the final watch, becomes grounded in something that is not subject to the cycle of time. Asthir (permanent, stable, not-moving) is what the Name confers — the stability that the body could never have.
"No difference between Guru and Lord"
Gur satgur su'āmī bhed na jāṇahu — "know that there is no difference between the Guru, the True Guru, and your Lord and Master." This is one of the most direct statements of what Sikhi means by the Guru: the Guru is not a human being who happens to be wise. The Guru is the divine's own voice, the Lord's own teaching presence. To serve the Guru is to serve the Lord. To love the Guru is to love the Lord. There is no gap between them.
"The devotee's life-night is fruitful"
Safli-o rain bhagtā dī — "the life-night of the devotee is fruitful." This is the closing affirmation of the entire composition. The night of life — all four watches — that was spent in genuine devotion, even imperfectly, even with long stretches of forgetting, ends well. The devotee's night is safall (fruitful, productive, complete). Guru Ram Das does not require perfection. He requires genuine turning.
*If you knew that this was the last watch of your life, what would you do differently — and why aren't you doing that now?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI