Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One is so dear to me — the delight of my heart, the very breath that keeps me going.
The beauty and kindness of the Beloved are endless, wider than I can imagine.
"O gentle One," my heart says, "please come close to me."
My eyes long to see You so much that the whole night passes and I can't sleep.
I've put the healing ointment of wisdom on my eyes; remembering You is my food — that's my finest decoration.
Let me sit with the wise, and be led home to the One I love.
This shabad uses the soul-bride (suhaagan) imagery central to Gurbani: the soul as a bride longing for her Beloved. It is a language of pure love and yearning — viraha, the ache of longing-in-separation that gives Bihaagraa its emotional color. The bride "cannot sleep" for longing; her eyes "long for the Blessed Vision" (darshan — the sight, the meeting). Notice what she counts as her real decorations (singaar): not jewelry but "the healing ointment of wisdom" on her eyes and "the Name as my food." This quietly redefines beauty — a person is truly adorned not by what they wear but by what they love and how clearly they see. For a child the longing can be carried as the sweet ache of missing someone you love very much, and the discovery that the most beautiful thing about a person is on the inside.
What's something 'on the inside' that makes a person truly beautiful?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI