Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Those who have not tasted the Name — those who have not found their way to the oneness — are the most unfortunate, no matter what else they have. They are led away, eventually, without having arrived at what matters.
Those who never sought the company of the true and the holy — their lives were full of things that did not fill them.
This is one of the sharper shabads. Guru Ram Das does not soften the statement: without the Name, something essential is missing, regardless of how successful or comfortable a life appears. The Messenger of Death (the Punjabi poetic image for time and mortality) comes for everyone. The question is whether you spent your time reaching toward the oneness or away from it.
This is not a curse. It is a diagnosis. Hollowness from disconnection can be recognised and changed at any moment. The urgency is not punishment — it is love's honest assessment.
Can you think of a time when you had everything you thought you wanted and still felt something was missing? What do you think that something was?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI