Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I have watched the world play like a gambler at a table.
Everyone begs for happiness, while forgetting the very Name that holds it.
This one paints the world as a gambler, betting on the wrong thing.
This is the Rahao line. Rahao means "pause." It is the center of the shabad, and it holds a picture you won't forget.
Aisaa jag daykhi-aa joo-aaree — "I have seen the world as such a gambler." Joo-aaree is a gambler, someone who puts everything on the wrong bet.
Sabh sukh maagai naam bisaaree — "all beg for happiness, while forgetting the Name." The Name is the One, remembered with love. It is exactly where happiness lives.
Think of searching the whole house for your glasses while they sit on your head. We chase the prize everywhere except the one place it is kept. That is the whole shabad in one line.
Guru Nanak is not scolding here. He is seeing clearly, and a little sadly, how people miss what is close.
What's something everyone's chasing that might already be closer than they think?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI