At This Door, Your Deficits Are Your Credentials
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Forgiving One is kind to the poor - He loves the ones who love Him, and His mercy toward them never takes a day off.
Patron of the abandoned, Sustainer of the world, Nourisher of every being that breathes.
The First One, Maker of all creation, the Support of the breath of His lovers. Whoever remembers Him is made clean -
and I? I am unworthy, small, and slow to understand. Exactly why I have come to Your door, Highest One.
At the One's door, what you lack is the very reason you belong.
The verse piles up the names of mercy. Parabh bakhsand deen da-i-aal — God the Forgiver, kind to the poor. Anaath naath — the Protector of those who have no one. Then Sustainer, Nourisher, the support of every breath.
Then comes the beggar's perfect logic. Ham nirgunee-aar neech ajaan — I am without virtue, lowly, and I do not understand. Naanak tumree saran purakh bhagvaan — Nanak has come into Your shelter, Highest One.
This is not putting yourself down. It is filling out the application. Every name just listed is a specialty in need. The Forgiver needs someone to forgive. The Protector of those with no one needs those with no one. So at this door, what you lack is exactly what qualifies you. Ashtapadee 15 said the same about the One who mends: broken things are the specialty.
This way of praying is the oldest and surest in the tradition. First His names of mercy, then my emptiness, and so: here I am. Children can learn it early. Think of a doctor. You don't get well before you visit. You go because you are sick. In the same way, you do not clean yourself up before coming to the One who makes clean.
Would you wash yourself before a bath? Then why wait until you are 'good enough' to approach the One who makes good?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI