Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am afraid. I am deeply afraid of You, God. I am troubled and confused. My body is wearing away.
Even the greatest rulers — the ones who seemed to own the world — they are dust now. Their palaces are empty.
O Nanak, we get up and go. All false attachments are cut away.
This last part speaks of a special kind of fear: the deep awe we feel when we see how small we are next to the One.
Bhai tayrai dar aglaa: great is the fear of You. The word bhai here isn't about being scared of punishment. It is the deep awe that comes from truly seeing that everything passes. In Sikh teaching, this is a good and honored feeling. The bhai of the One is a kind of deep respect, not worry. Khap khap chhijai dayh: troubled and puzzled, the body wears away.
Naav jinaa sultaan khaan hoday dithay khayh: even those called sultans and kings end up as dust. This echoes the pauri before it: power doesn't last.
So "fear of God" in Gurbani isn't fear of an angry God. It's the dizzy, wide-eyed feeling of seeing how huge the world is and how small our show-off ways are. Think of standing under a sky full of stars at night. You feel tiny, but in a good way. That feeling makes us humble, and it sets us free.
Naanak uthee chali-aa sabh koorhay tutay nayh: Nanak says, when we get up and go, every false attachment is cut away.
Does thinking about death make you more or less present in your daily life? What would you do differently if you knew your time was very short?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI