Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
As long as you believe you are the doer of it all, you will not find one hour of peace.
As long as the me insists it is running the show, you keep being pulled through the same circles.
As long as you sort the world into enemies and friends, your mind cannot settle. As long as the glitter has you drunk, the inner judge keeps the case open.
When grace snaps the cords - Nanak says: by the Guru's grace the ego melts, and then, only then, it is over.
Peace begins when you stop believing you are the one doing it all.
The verse has four "as long as" lines. Jab lag means "as long as." The first goes deepest of all in Sukhmani. Jab lag jaanai mujh tay kachh ho-ay — as long as someone thinks, "I am the one who does things," tab is ka-o sukh naahee ko-ay — they have no peace. Believing "I am the doer" sits under every other pride. Pride in power, in goodness, and in money all grow from that first claim: I am doing this.
The third line points at the mind's favorite hobby. Jab Dhaarai ko-oo bairee meet — as long as it sorts people into enemies and friends, it cannot rest. The sorting itself is the restlessness. A mind always filing people into "for me" and "against me" never gets to stop filing. The Brahm Giani, the one who truly knows the One, sees friend and foe alike. That person has closed the filing cabinet.
Look at how freedom comes. The bonds "are shattered" by God's grace. The ego "is removed" by the Guru's grace. Both happen to us. A prisoner does not pick this lock. The lock was the belief that their own hands were doing everything, even the lock-picking.
Try to remember: did you beat your own heart today? Grow your own hair? What else might not be yours to do?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI