Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
For those who serve the One, the Name is the road to freedom, the food that satisfies, the beauty and delight of their lives.
Keeping the Name, they are never blocked - no obstacle has the final word.
The Name is their greatness and their honor - a shine that does not come from titles.
The Name is their joy, and their union - keeping it, there is no separation. Their whole work is woven into it. Nanak says: worship the One, dear friend.
Joy and discipline usually seem like opposites, but the Name gives both at once.
This verse lists what the Name is for the One's servant. It is the road to freedom. It is food that fills. It is beauty. It is a path no obstacle can block. It is greatness and honor. And it is bhog and jog.
That last pair is worth a closer look. Bhog is enjoyment, the good things of home life. Jog is union, the hard discipline of a hermit in the hills. In old Indian thinking they pull against each other. Guru Arjan gives both to the Name at once. The Name's servant enjoys life and is joined with the One. Feasts, and is free. Think of a family meal where you laugh, eat, and also feel deeply close to everyone. Nobody had to choose.
Har naam japat kachh naahi bi-og — keeping the Name, there is no separation at all. This says the goal plainly. Simran, remembering, is not a road to some union later on. The remembering is the union, for as long as it lasts. Forgetting was the only distance there ever was. That forgetting is what Gurbani calls maa-i-aa.
Do you think of joy and discipline as enemies? What would a practice look like that was both at once?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI