Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
If you want life's four great blessings, serve those who live close to the One.
If you want your sorrows erased, sing the Name inside your heart.
If you want honor, leave your pride behind in the Sangat. If the wheel of birth and death frightens you, take shelter with the Guru's people.
And Nanak says: to those who simply thirst to see the One, I offer everything.
Whatever you are looking for, you find it in two places: the Name inside you, and the Sangat around you.
It is built like a ladder of "if ... then." If you want the four great blessings, serve holy people. The chaar padaarath, four blessings, are the old list of life's aims: doing right, earning well, a happy life, and freedom. If you want sorrow erased, sing the Name in your heart. If you want honor, leave your pride behind in the Saadh Sangat, the Sangat — people gathered together to remember the One. If birth and death frighten you, take shelter with holy people.
Look at what honor asks. You gain real honor by letting go of wanting to look important. It is like the team player who passes the ball, and is loved for it.
The last line quietly changes the order. Above everyone who wants blessings, comfort, honor, or even freedom, stand those who simply thirst for darshan, the sight of the One. They want nothing from the One except the One. Naanak taa kai bal bal jaasaa — Nanak would give himself, again and again, for them.
Of all the things people pray for, what would it mean to want only the closeness itself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI