ਬਿਨੁ ਦਰਸਨ ਕੈਸੇ ਜੀਵਉ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਈ ॥
bin darsan kaisay jeeva-o mayree maa-ee.
Without the Blessed Vision of His Darshan, how can I live, O my mother?
ਹਰਿ ਬਿਨੁ ਜੀਅਰਾ ਰਹਿ ਨ ਸਕੈ ਖਿਨੁ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਬੂਝ ਬੁਝਾਈ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
har bin jee-araa reh na sakai khin satgur boojh bujhaa-ee. ||1|| rahaa-o.
Without the Lord, my soul cannot survive, even for an instant; the True Guru has helped me understand this. ||1||Pause||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
How can I live without seeing You, O my mother?
Without the One, my heart cannot last even a moment. The Guru has helped me understand this.
The heart cannot last an instant cut off from the One it loves.
The heart cannot last a moment without the One.
This is the Rahao, the pivot the whole shabad turns on. The address mayree maa-ee (O my mother) makes the longing tender and human, not abstract. What looks like desperation is recognition — the soul naming what it cannot live without.
A Question to Sit With
What is the one thing your day feels empty without?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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