Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Without music, how can anyone dance?
Without a voice, how can anyone sing?
Without strings, how can a rabaab, a kind of guitar, be played?
Without the Naam, everything you do comes to nothing.
Without the Naam, a life is like a dance with no music: the shape is there, and the life is missing.
Bin baajay kaiso nirtikaaree: without music, how the dance? Jeel binaa kaisay bajai rabaab: without strings, how can the rabaab play? The rabaab is the instrument Guru Nanak's companion Mardana played. Each image shows an outward form waiting for the living thing that gives it sound. The Naam is the string that lets a life ring.
What is something that feels empty until the one thing that matters is added to it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI