Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
At the last crossing, only your love and devotion travel with you - everything crooked burns off like ash.
So practice the Name. Of all the kinds of wealth, this is the excellent one.
This one says only love for the One goes with us at the end. Everything else turns to ash.
saath na chaalai bin bhajan — nothing goes along with you except bhajan, loving remembrance. bikhi-aa saglee chhaar — everything corrupt is ash.
Think of the security check at the very last border. Only one bag gets through. Devotion passes. The rest turns out to have been ash all along. Sukhmani comes back to this check again and again.
The good news is in the second line: har har naam kamaavanaa naanak ih Dhan saar — earn the Name; this is the finest wealth.
This salok opens the nineteenth ashtapadee, a group of eight verses. The eight pauris will run the world's chases through this test: money, peace, fame, cures. Each time, what people were chasing sideways turns out to be waiting straight ahead.
If you could take exactly one thing out of this life, what would survive the crossing?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI