Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Everything you can see — it will not go with you. What does it take for you to genuinely realize this?
The True Guru plants the True Name inside you. Remain absorbed in that True One.
The Guru's Word is True. And by grace, it is obtained.
The impermanence of the visible
Jo disai so chalsi, ki'o laggai man dekhā'i — "that which is seen shall not go along with you. What does it take to make you see this?" Guru Amar Das keeps returning to the fundamental fact: everything visible is impermanent. The question is pointed: you know this already. What will it take for the knowledge to actually change how you live?
This is not pessimism about creation. It is realism about what is worth carrying and what is not. The Guru's prescription is equally direct: sacchi gur sacchā nāmu de'i'ā, rahe sach samā'e — "The True Guru has implanted the True Name within; remain lovingly absorbed in the True One." The antidote to attachment to the impermanent is absorption in the permanent.
"By His Grace, it is obtained"
Shabad sach, prasādi pāi'ā — "the Word of His Shabad is True; by His Grace, it is obtained." The Shabad is True. It doesn't fade. And it is obtained by grace (parsādi) — not by intellectual effort, not by religious performance, but by the Lord's favor descending on the one who has genuinely turned.
*What is something you own or have that you know very well won't go with you? And what is something inside you that you feel actually is you, wherever you go?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI