Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Without faith, they are consumed by the love of duality. The self-willed do not act on the Guru's instructions.
Night and day, they are filled with anxiety. Deep within, they suffer in pain.
O Nanak, chanting the Name of the True Lord — the Gurmukh is liberated in this very life.
The closing pauri contrasts the faithless (bibaak) with the Gurmukh who chants the Name. The faithless are consumed by duality — dujaa bhaav jalae — burned by the competing pulls of what they cannot resolve into unity.
"Liberated in this very life" — jivanmukt — this is the Sikh teaching on liberation: it is available now, in this body, in this lifetime. Not after death, not in a future incarnation, not after enlightenment granted by a particular institution. Now.
If liberation — freedom from the compulsive grip of ego and fear — were available right now, not someday, what would you do with this moment?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI