Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Through the Guru, the Path is found, and the darkness of clinging is cleared away.
When the ego dies through the Word, one is lifted up and finds the Door of Liberation.
By the Guru's grace, one stays blended with the True Name of the Creator.
This one says the Guru shows the path, and when the ego dies through the Word, the door opens.
Gur tay maarag paa-ee-ai — from the Guru, the path is found. Chookai moh gubaar — the darkness of clinging clears.
Sabad marai taa uDhrai — when one "dies" through the Word, one is lifted up. This is what Guru Amar Das calls dying while alive. It is the ego that dies, the me-first self. The body lives on, healthy and happy. It never means wanting to stop living.
People in many traditions, Christian, Sufi, Hindu and Buddhist, have spoken of "dying before you die." They mean the small self that thinks it stands alone fades away. Someone who has let that small self go is no longer frightened of the other kind of death.
Think of a caterpillar in its cocoon. What comes out is still alive, just alive in a new way.
Gur parsaadee mil rahai — by the Guru's grace, one stays joined with the True Name of the Creator.
What is the strongest recurring thought or tendency in your mind that you have the hardest time with? Not judging it — just honestly naming it. What is your mind most powerful in moving you toward?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI