Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Many millions live in the regions below; many millions in the heavens and the hells.
Many millions are born, live their span, and die; many millions circle back again and again.
Many millions eat at ease without lifting a hand; many millions are worn thin by their labor. Many millions are made rich; many millions lie awake tangled in wanting.
Wherever He wills, there each one is kept. Nanak says: everything - all of it - rests in the hands of the One.
Each of us is kept wherever the One wills, and everything is in the One's hands.
This count looks at how people live, and the pairs are pointed. Some eat at ease while others are worn out by work. Some are born rich while others lie awake with worry. Guru Arjan built the free kitchen at Amritsar, the langar, where an emperor and a beggar sat in one row to eat. He is not saying the unfairness is fine. He is refusing to pretend it isn't there.
His claim goes deeper than "it's fine" or "it's unfair": jah jah bhaanaa tah tah raakhay, "wherever He wills, there He keeps us." In Sukhmani this is about where the soul is placed. It is not a verdict on society. Think of seats in a classroom. Some chairs are soft and some are hard. Your seat is where you were placed. It is not what you are worth. And every seat faces the same teacher at the front. The section before this one said the same about homes and names. Here it is said about money.
This line does not remove the duty to be kind. The langar is there to prove it. What it removes are two poisons: pride in the soft seat, and despair in the hard one.
Some people are born with so much, some with so little. What does that difference mean - and what does it not mean?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI