Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Please preserve Your beings and creatures, God. O Creator Lord, please be merciful.
Without God, there is no saving grace. The Messenger of Death is cruel and unfeeling.
O Nanak — may I never forget the Naam! Please bless me with Your Mercy, Lord.
The closing prayer is collective and urgent: rakhai apne jee jeha — preserve Your beings. Not "my" beings. All beings. This is Guru Arjan's compassion extending outward from personal practice to universal prayer.
"Without God, there is no saving grace" — bin Prabh koee nahi — a simple, complete statement. The Messenger of Death (jam) is cruel (aaphukar) — without mercy. Only the Lord is merciful. Only the Lord saves.
"May I never forget the Naam" — Nanak Naam na visarai — the closing prayer is the most basic: don't let me forget. The simplest, most necessary thing.
What one thing, if you could ensure you never forgot it, would change the quality of your entire life? What is it, and what helps you remember it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI