Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O mind, how will you get free of this heavy pain?
What did you bring with you, and what will you take away? Remember the One, who is good and generous.
You come with empty hands and leave with empty hands, so remember the One, who is good and generous.
This is the rahao, the "pause" line. It is the center of the whole shabad, the part everything else leans on.
Man ray ki-o chhootas dukh bhaaree: O mind, how will you get free of this heavy trouble? Then comes a simple question. Ki-aa lay aavas ki-aa lay jaavas: what did you bring with you, and what will you take away?
Think of a day at a friend's house. You arrive with empty hands. You play with their toys all day. Then you go home with empty hands. The toys were never yours to keep. We come into the world with nothing, and we leave with nothing.
So what does travel with us? Raam japahu gunkaaree: keep the One in mind, the One who is good and generous. That remembering is the one treasure we carry out the door.
If you could only take one thing from this life, what would you want it to be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI