Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When we forget to keep the One in mind, our days quietly wear away.
That's the gentle warning here: don't let the time slip by without remembering what matters.
The verse names the cost of forgetting in the bluntest terms — raat dinas you wear away (bihaa-i), night and day, held in time's grip. In this poem the repeated address (translated 'you fool') is really the poet speaking to the forgetful part in all of us, the way Mehl 3 elsewhere says 'O my mad mind' — stern on the surface, tender underneath. It isn't calling anyone worthless; it's the urgency of a teacher who can see the clock and doesn't want you to waste the hour. Remembering is simply how you stop the days from draining away unnoticed.
What is a small way you could 'remember what matters' in the middle of an ordinary day?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI