Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Without this awe, no one ever makes it across the wide ocean of life. And here is the secret: this awe is not the opposite of love. It is what makes love beautiful. Awe and love belong together.
This is the Rahao -- the refrain, the still center the whole shabad circles back to. The world is the bhavjal, the terrifying ocean, and awe is what lets the soul cross it. The radical move is the second line: awe adorns the Love of the Lord, the way a jewel adorns the one who wears it. Awe is not love's enemy or its lesser cousin -- it is love's ornament. Real love of the vast and holy naturally trembles. A love with no awe has gone slack; an awe with no love has curdled into fear. Nanak keeps them married.
Can you think of someone you love and are also a little in awe of? How are those two feelings connected?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI