Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
He is the true warrior who conquers and subdues his own fierce ego. That is the battle worth fighting.
Gurmukhs praising the Naam redeem their lives — and they save their ancestors too.
Those who love the Naam look radiant at the Gate of Truth.
But the manmukhs die caught in egotism — and even their death is ugly.
Everything happens according to the Lord's Will. What can the poor people do?
Caught in self-conceit and duality, they have forgotten their Lord. Without the Name, everything is painful and happiness is forgotten.
The inner battle
Sūrā so pehachānī'ai, jo largal baira haumai — "he is a brave warrior who conquers and subdues his vicious inner ego." The tradition's consistent reframing of courage: the true battle is not external (not defeating an enemy, not overcoming external obstacles) but internal. The most formidable opponent is the ego itself.
The spiritual warrior — the Gurmukh who has turned toward the teaching — fights this battle and wins it by meditating on the Naam. Not through willpower alone, not through suppression, but through the transforming power of the Name that dissolves the ego by absorption.
Liberation that extends to ancestors
Āp mukut, kul tāre, sabh lagat pāi — "they themselves are liberated forever, and they save all their ancestors." The Gurmukh's liberation extends backward in time as well as forward: it redeems the lineage. This is the tradition's way of saying that genuine transformation is not individual — it ripples through relationship and time.
The beauty of the Gurmukh's death
Surat manmukh maran mand, māre durgati pā'e — "the self-willed manmukhs die in egotism — even their death is painfully ugly." The contrast between the Gurmukh's death (radiant at the Gate of Truth) and the manmukh's death (ugly in ego) is aesthetic as well as spiritual. The tradition does not just say one is better; it says one is beautiful and the other is ugly. How we die reflects how we lived.
*Who do you think is genuinely brave? What battle are they fighting? Does the tradition's definition of bravery (conquering the ego) match or challenge your own?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI