Dear God, I long to behold the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan.
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I have studied and thought through the heart of the scriptures, the Vedas and the old texts.
Protector of the helpless, One of the very breath — perfect One, carry us across the frightening ocean.
Guru Arjan, who knew the scriptures deeply, tells us he studied "the essence of the Shaastras, Vedas and Puraanas" — and where does all that study land? Not in more knowledge, but in a simple cry: carry us across. This is the humbling of learning before love. All the texts, thoroughly digested, point past themselves to a single prayer of dependence. The "terrifying world-ocean" is the churning difficulty of existence, and the seeker does not claim to swim it by his own scholarship — he asks to be ferried (the same empty-handed prayer as Aasaa's "carry us across,").
Can you know a great deal and still be humble? Where does true learning finally lead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI