ਕਿਆ ਮਾਂਗਉ ਕਿਛੁ ਥਿਰੁ ਨਾਹੀ ॥
ki-aa maaNga-o kichh thir naahee.
What should I ask for? Nothing lasts forever.
ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਰਖੁ ਮਨ ਮਾਹੀ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
raam naam rakh man maahee. ||1|| rahaa-o.
Enshrine the Lord's Name within your mind. ||1||Pause||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
What should I ask for? Nothing here lasts forever.
Keep the Naam of the One settled in your mind.
Stop asking for what fades; keep what lasts.
Instead of asking for things that fade, keep the one thing that lasts.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. Ki-aa maaga-o kichh thir naahee: what should I ask for? Nothing here is thir, lasting. Think of a sandcastle. It is fun to build, but the next wave takes it.
So the line turns from asking for things to holding the Name: raam naam rakh man maahee, keep the One's Name in your mind. Only the Name truly lasts.
A Question to Sit With
If you could only keep one thing forever, what would you want it to be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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