ਆਸਾ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥
aasaa mehlaa 1.
Aasaa, First Mehl:
ਕਾਚੀ ਗਾਗਰਿ ਦੇਹ ਦੁਹੇਲੀ ਉਪਜੈ ਬਿਨਸੈ ਦੁਖੁ ਪਾਈ ॥
kaachee gaagar dayh duhaylee upjai binsai dukh paa-ee.
The clay pitcher of the body is miserable; it suffers in pain through birth and death.
ਇਹੁ ਜਗੁ ਸਾਗਰੁ ਦੁਤਰੁ ਕਿਉ ਤਰੀਐ ਬਿਨੁ ਹਰਿ ਗੁਰ ਪਾਰਿ ਨ ਪਾਈ ॥੧॥
ih jag saagar dutar ki-o taree-ai bin har gur paar na paa-ee. ||1||
How can this terrifying world-ocean be crossed over? Without the Lord - Guru, it cannot be crossed. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
This clay-pot body aches, suffering through being born and dying again and again.
How is this terrifying ocean ever to be crossed? Without the One who is the Guru, it cannot be crossed at all.
This fragile body can't cross the deep ocean on its own — it has to be ferried.
The body is a fragile clay pitcher, and unaided it cannot cross the bhavjal, the terrifying world-ocean. The honest despair of the question — "how can this be crossed?" — is answered not with a technique but with a relationship: "without the Lord-Guru, it cannot be crossed." You do not cross by your own strength; you are ferried.
A Question to Sit With
When have you needed someone else's help to get through something you couldn't manage alone?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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