Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
If you are awake and aware at all, then be aware of the True One — your true home and your own.
Step aboard the boat of the teaching, and cross safely over the wide waters of this world.
A short, two-line Shalok, and a play on words: chaytaa ee taan chayt — "if you have awareness, then use it to be aware of..." It gently turns a simple fact (you are conscious, you are paying attention to something) into an invitation (so aim that attention at what is real). The image of the bohith — the boat, the ship — recurs across this Vaar and much of Gurbani: the world is a wide crossing, and the teaching is the vessel that carries you. Note the softness of bhaojal: often rendered "the terrifying world-ocean," but its real force is not fear — it is the vastness a person cannot swim alone. The answer is never to be afraid; it is to climb aboard.
What is something you already have the ability to pay attention to, but usually don't? What might change if you did?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI