ਦਾਰਨ ਦੁਖ ਦੁਤਰ ਸੰਸਾਰੁ ॥
daaran dukh dutar sansaar.
The treacherous world-ocean is filled with terrible pain.
ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਬਿਨੁ ਕੈਸੇ ਉਤਰਸਿ ਪਾਰਿ ॥੩॥
raam naam bin kaisay utras paar. ||3||
Without the Lord's Name, how can anyone cross over? ||3||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
This world can be a hard place to cross, full of real difficulty and pain.
Without the Name of the One to hold onto, how would anyone make it to the far shore? That is the raft that carries me.
Life can be genuinely hard to cross — and remembrance of the One is the raft that carries you.
Daaran dukh dutar sansaar — "the world-ocean is hard to cross, full of pain." The image is the bhavsagar, the great sea of existence that a soul must cross. The pauri does not deny that life is genuinely difficult — it honors that truth. Then it names the help: raam naam, remembrance of the One, is what carries a person across. Difficulty is real, and so is the raft.
A Question to Sit With
When things are genuinely hard, what have you found that helps carry you through?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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