Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Death has been forgotten — in the darkness of attachment to Maya.
The self-willed die and die and are born again, and die once more — ground down at death's gate.
Remembering that life ends can teach us how to live.
This verse is a gentle reminder that everyone dies someday, and it shows how we forget. Marnaa manhu visaari-aa — death has slipped from the mind. That does not happen by accident. It happens in the bubaar, the darkness, that attachment to Maya, the pull of the world, creates. Maya's biggest trick is making us forget the one appointment that is certain.
Forgetting has a cost. The manmukh, one who follows only their own mind, keeps going round the wheel of birth and death. Mar mar jameh bhee mareh — dying, dying, being born, dying again. The repeated words sound tiring on purpose.
From its first hymns, this raag has taught another way. Remember death once, truly, and it teaches you to live well. Think of the last day of summer camp. Because you know it is ending, you notice every moment. Forget death, and it teaches you nothing, over and over.
How would this month change if you kept one gentle eye on the fact that life ends?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI