Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Those with good destiny find their way to the Guru. And through the Guru, the Lord's Name lights them up from inside.
Blessed — truly blessed — is the trade of those merchants who loaded the wealth of the Lord as their cargo. Of all the goods available, they chose the best.
Their faces glow in the Lord's Court. They arrive and merge with Him.
Nanak says: the ones the Lord is pleased with — they are the ones who find the Guru. The finding begins with the Lord's pleasure, not with the seeker's effort.
"Blessed is the trade"
Dhann dhann vanijā vaparrī'ā — "blessed, blessed is the trade of those traders." The double dhann (blessed, fortunate) is an expression of wonder and praise. In Punjabi, the repetition intensifies. The merchant who traded in the Lord's wealth has made the only transaction that composes into permanent value. Everything else depreciates.
Jini har dhan rāsi ladd lī'ā — "who have loaded the merchandise of the Wealth of the Lord." The verb laddhī'ā is "to load cargo." The merchant loads. The trading metaphor reaches its fullest expression here: the wise merchant, surveying all the goods available in the world-market, sees through to the one cargo that holds its value, and loads it.
Faces radiant in the Lord's Court
Gurmukh mukh ujjallay har dar — "the faces of the Gurmukhs are radiant in the Court of the Lord." The merchant who arrives at the final destination with the right cargo is recognized. The face glows — not from effort, not from performance, but from what they are carrying and who they have become through the carrying.
"With whom the Lord, the Treasure of Excellence, is pleased"
Jin ko bhā'e har gunnṭhākur, tin nānak gur milā'ā — "those with whom the Lord, the Treasure of Excellence, is pleased — them, Nanak, the Guru has met." The Vaar ends the Vanajaaraa section as it began: the meeting with the Guru depends on the Lord's pleasure. The merchant's success in finding the Guru is itself a gift, not an achievement.
*What is the most valuable thing you've ever 'loaded' — a skill, a habit, a relationship — that has kept paying off long after the initial effort?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI