Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Your heart can hold onto the One as naturally as a baby holds onto its mother while it drinks her milk.
Without that closeness nothing feels quite right — like a little bird calling and calling for the rain it's thirsty for.
So look for the shelter of a wise teacher, someone who will tell you about all that is beautiful and true.
Then the many songs of goodness begin to play quietly in your heart.
This one shows the soul reaching for the One the way a baby reaches for its mother.
Two of Gurbani's tenderest pictures come together here. First, ji-o baalak — like a baby held close, drinking its mother's milk. The bond between the soul and the One is the most natural bond there is. It is pure need met by pure love.
Second, ji-o chaatrik jal bin — like the chaatrik, the rain-bird, without water. In old Indian poems this bird drinks only falling raindrops, so it cries out for rain. It is a soul that thirsts for one thing and will not take anything less.
Guru Ram Das loves these pictures of love from nature: the fish and the water, the rain-bird and the rain, the calf and the cow.
Then comes a practical step. Satgur sarnee jaa-ay pa-o — go to the shelter of the True Guru, who tells of the One's goodness. Think of a friend who knows the trail when you are lost on a hike. You stay close and listen.
The reward is music inside. Ghar vaajay sabad ghanayray — many songs of the Word play in the heart.
What is something you need so much that nothing else can take its place?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI