Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is only One. And the One is found by the True Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.
I bow to the Guru who was there at the very beginning.
I bow to the Guru who has been here through all the ages.
I bow to the True Guru - the wisdom that brings light into darkness.
I bow to the great Divine Guru. Before this song of peace begins, I stop and bow.
Bow to the Guru before you ask for peace, at the beginning and at the end.
This is the doorway of Sukhmani Sahib - Guru Arjan's "Jewel of Peace" - and the heading above it reads: read this Shalok at the beginning, and at the end. The whole bani is framed by bowing. Before a single teaching is given, the posture is set: humility, gratitude, openness. The Guru is also the awakening wisdom itself - what carries a mind from darkness (gu) to light (ru). The salok bows in four ways: to the Guru as primal (before time), as running through all ages, as True (sat - lasting, permanent), and as divine and radiant. It is the same move the Mool Mantar makes with Gurprasad: everything good begins with opening. The reader who bows at the start and bows again at the end has wrapped the whole reading in the one attitude that lets its peace land.
What would it change to begin the things you care about with a moment of gratitude instead of a demand?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI