Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
This human life is a rare and precious gift -- it comes only through great good fortune. So let me not sleepwalk through it, forgetting the One who gives me every breath. To forget entirely would be to harm my own soul.
This human life is a rare gift, and remembering where it comes from is how we honor it.
Dulabh dayh paa-ee vadbhaagee — this dulabh, hard-to-get, body was received by great good fortune. It has long been read as the rare gift of being born human.
Then Guru Arjan uses strong words. Naam na jaapeh tay aatam ghaatee — those who do not remember the Name are aatam ghaatee, harming their own soul. The danger here is not punishment. It is self-neglect. Think of a beautiful bike left out in the rain until it rusts. Nobody punished it. It just was not cared for.
To live without ever remembering the Source is to waste the very thing that makes this life precious. The pull is toward valuing the gift, not toward feeling guilty.
What is one ordinary thing about being alive that you would call a gift if you really stopped to notice it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI