Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
"Wake up," the song says kindly — why sleepwalk through your bright life?
There's no use just fretting and fussing over things that fade, though many do.
So many chase the glitter, but real peace comes from something steadier.
No amount of clever scheming changes where love and life carry us.
From beginning to middle to end, the One is everywhere, in every single heart.
Keep good company, and you'll come home with your head held high.
The verse's famous opening — kit sovhi jaagu re... raajaa — "O king, why are you sleeping? Wake up!" — addresses even the powerful and comfortable. "King" here is anyone lulled into spiritual sleep by having enough; the wake-up is universal. The gentle diagnosis: it's "useless to cry and whine about Maya" — endlessly fretting over the fading things solves nothing. The freeing truth is lakh chaturaaee... na paaeeai — "thousands of clever tricks won't succeed; one goes where the Lord wills" — a call to stop scheming and trust. And the grounding assurance: the One is present "in the beginning, middle and end... in each and every heart" (ghat ghat). For a child: don't sleepwalk through your days worrying and scheming over things that don't last — wake up to what's real, and trust that you're carried.
What does it mean to be 'awake' to the good things in your life instead of sleepwalking past them?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI