Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I've tried all the serious ways — the chanting, the sitting still, the going-without.
But the restless burning inside didn't cool until I found real shelter.
So I ask for that shelter: loosen what ties me up, and carry me across.
Please don't add up all my rights and wrongs — just be kind.
You are gentle to the small, the holder-up of the whole world, the reason behind everything.
Like a little rainbird thirsty for one drop, I ask only for the Name — and in remembering, I live.
This one says that trying harder cannot cool a burning heart. Shelter can.
Jap tap barat keenay — I have done chanting, deep meditation and fasting, all to see Your feet. And still, tapat na kateh — the burning inside did not cool, without the Master's shelter.
That is an honest thing to admit. Effort alone, even serious practice, does not put out the inner fire. Only shelter does, the grace that is given to us.
Think of a kid who is upset and keeps tidying their room faster and faster to feel better. It does not help. What helps is a hug, and someone saying, "I'm here."
Mayraa gun a-ugan na beechaaree-ai — please do not count up my good points and bad points. The soul asks not to be judged by a scorecard, but simply to be loved.
The shabad comes back to the chaatrik, the rain-bird that thirsts for one raindrop, as in an earlier shabad of this raag. The soul does not ask for many things. It asks for the one thing it truly needs.
When you feel restless and can't settle, what's a safe place or person that helps you calm down?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI