Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Prays Nanak: what is the nature of genuinely spiritual people? They are self-realized — they know themselves.
They understand the divine. By the Guru's grace, they contemplate the source.
Such people are honored in the deepest court — not because of titles, but because of what they actually are.
The closing pauri offers a definition of the spiritual person: aapaa chinhai — one who knows themselves. Self-knowledge, in Gurbani, is not psychological navel-gazing — it is the recognition of the divine within oneself.
"Understand God" and "know themselves" are essentially the same thing in Gurmat. Because the divine is not separate from the self — it is the deepest layer of what the self is. To know yourself fully is to find the divine at the bottom.
How well do you know yourself — not your preferences and opinions, but what's underneath all of that? Have you ever looked?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI