Grievance Counts One Missing; Gratitude Counts Ten Given
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You receive ten gifts and toss them behind you without a glance. One gift gets withheld - and you lose your faith over it.
But what if the one were never given, and the ten were taken back too? What would you say then?
The One cannot be forced. Bowing, adoring, trusting - that is the only approach that fits.
When the One tastes sweet to your mind, every pleasure comes to live there. Nanak says: accept the flow of the Will, and everything you need arrives.
Grumbling counts the one thing missing, while thankfulness counts the ten already given.
Look at the math in the first lines. Das bastoo lay paachhai paavai — he takes ten things and puts them behind him. Ayk basat kaaran bikhot gavaavai — for one thing held back, he throws away his faith. Grumbling keeps perfect records. Thankfulness keeps no list at all. Think of a birthday with ten presents and one missing, and the whole party spent sulking about the one.
Then a question. What if that one were never given, and the ten were taken back too? This is not a threat. It is a check-up. Everything we hold is on loan. The next verse makes the Banker plain.
Then the turn. Jis thaakur si-o naahee chaaraa — the Master cannot be moved by force. Not by demands, deals, or tantrums. But the one whose mind finds the One sweet receives every joy, without even asking. This is hukam, the Will of the One, the flow of existence. Living by it is about lining up, not bargaining.
The last line is a full promise. Whoever lives by the Will obtains all things. Wanting and receiving stop being enemies.
When one thing goes wrong, can you still see everything that is going right? Try counting both, honestly.
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI