The following very beautiful Dakhna of Siri Guru Arjun Dev jee caught my attention. The first pankiti was easy to understand but the second pankiti's first three words were not very clear. The pankiti is as follows:

JO DUBANDO AAP, SO TARAAYE KIN KHEY ||
TARENDRO BHEE TAAR, NANAK, PIR SIYO RATIYAA||

Dubando - One who is drowning.

Taraaye - Verb - to help swim.

Kin Khey - Whom can he help swim across i.e. can't help swim.

The first pankiti means, One who is himself drowning, how can he help swim anyone else?

Tarendro - One who is a skilled swimmer

Bhee - hee, only.

Taar - Verb - to help swim.

Pir - husband, Vaheguru.

Ratiyaa - One who's mind is coloured in divine colours of Naam.

The second pankiti has been interpreted differently by many scholars. Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha has interpreted the word "Bhee" as "hee". So his interpretation of the first three words of the second pankiti is "A skilled swimmer alone can help swim others across." "Tarendro hee taar sakda hai".

Giani Bachan Singh has interpreted this as "One who has coloured his mind with Naam, himself swims and helps other swim across".

Professor Sahib Singh writes, "Ones who are drenched in the love of God themselves swim and help others too to swim across".

It's not easy to translate in English. The key is the interpretation of the word "bhee" and "Tarendro". Bhai Kahn Singh jee has interpreted "bhee" as "hee" and others have interpreted it as "bhee" itself. Professor Sahib Singh interprets the word "Tarendro" as "he himself swims" as opposed to Bhai Kahn Singh's interpretation as "A skilled swimmer".

There is a sooksham (very micro) difference in the meanings for an ordinary listener but if you like to delve deeper, then there is quite a difference. I personally like Nabha jee's meanings of second pankiti more because these meanings are a better continuation of the first pankiti. In the first pankiti Siri Guru jee has written that one who himself is drowning cannot help swim others and in the second pankiti Siri Guru jee says that only such person who is a skilled swimmer (and is drenched in divine love) can help others swim across.

This pankiti is a warning to those of us who go after fake sants and fake deredaars. These fake sants who themselves are drowning in this ocean of world cannot help us swim across. The real Sants are humble-minded Gursikhs who live as Gursikhs and never try to become something. They don't consider themselves to be superior to Guru Sahib and thus don't ever give up rehit. Only such individuals who consider themselves superior would remove kakaars or give up other outside rehit. Rehit is one of the first signs that the person one is dealing with is a Gursikh. The inner avastha of a person can only be understood after dealings with that person. So, we should not go after ones who are drowning and get involved with true Gursikhs of Siri Dasmesh jee.

Baani is Agam Agaadh Bodh. We can interpret only that much baani as much intelligence we have been blessed by Vaheguru himself. No one can claim absolute knowledge of Gurbani.

Daas,
Kulbir Singh

just wondering, how accurate would you consider prof. Manmohan Singh ji's translation to be? I've found his poetical translation to be deeply moving. How does it compare to the other translations in terms of accuracy?
thanks.

I have done some shallow reading of English translations including that of Manmohan Singh and have come to the conclusion that English translations are very hard to do and cannot be as accurate as Punjabi translations. It's good that we have 2 - 3 translations in English but one cannot translate many expressions of Gurbani in English. The spirit is lost in any kind of translation including that of Punjabi but English being a language with different base than Punjabi, more of the originality is lost when translating.

Another deficiency that I have noticed in English translations is the lack of padd-arth i.e. meaning of main words before full pankiti translation. If words were translated then it would have been easier for English readers to eventually derive meanings from Gurbani directly.

Yes, I agree that Manmohan Singh has used good English while translating Gurbani but I don't find it as accurate as Punjabi translations. If you are serious about interpreting Gurbani directly, you will have to shed English translations and work on Professor Sahib Singh's Darpan, Giani Harbans Singh's Nirnai, Faridkoti Teeka and others if you can. Reading books of Gurmukhs like Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee gives your mind a certain disposition that helps in interpreting Gurbani.

Daas,
Kulbir Singh