Understand Yourself All the Way Down and the Thirst Stops
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
By grace, you come to understand your own self - and right there, the old thirst is quenched.
In good company, praising - such a soul sheds its diseases.
Sing through the days and nights; and stay right in your own household, balanced, present, unowned by it all. Hang your hopes on the One, and the noose of fear is cut off your neck.
A mind that stays hungry for the Highest will not be broken by pain.
When you truly understand yourself, the thirst of wanting stops.
There are four teachings here, each with its own freedom attached. The first is the deepest. Gur parsaad aapan aap sujhai — by the Guru's grace, one understands oneself. Tis kee jaanhu tarisnaa bujhai — know that then their tarisnaa, their thirst, is quenched.
Why? Craving is the self reaching outward for something it thinks it lacks. Seeing what you really are, and that you were never apart from the One, dissolves that lack at its root. This is aap pachhaan, knowing your true self. Think of hunting all over the house for your glasses, then finding them on your head.
Saadhsang har har jas kahat — praising the One in good company, the devotee stays free of every sickness.
The household line carries the Gurus' own advice. Garihsat meh so-ee nirbaan — right in the middle of your household, stay balanced and free. Not in a forest or a cave, but in the kitchen and at the table. It is the lotus in the water again, given as homework.
Ayk oopar jis jan kee aasaa — for the one whose hope rests on the One, the rope of death is cut. And last, a surprise about hunger. Paarbarahm kee jis man bhookh — the mind that is hungry for the Highest does not suffer pain. That is the one hunger that feeds you instead of gnawing at you. It is the thirst that ends thirst.
What would it mean to be fully part of your family and home, but not owned by every mood in the house?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI