Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
For a long time something inside me felt like it was burning — restless, thirsty, never at peace. And then I found the Water: the living presence of the One, everywhere and in everything. The moment I drank it, the burning cooled. What I had been aching for was here all along.
Kabir was burning inside, and now he has found the Water that cools him: the Name.
This shabad opens the songs of the Bhagats, the devotee-poets, in Raag Gauree. Above it is a short opening blessing, a Mangalacharan: Ik-onkaar satnaam kartaa purakh gur parsaad — One Creator, whose Name is Truth, the Maker, known by the Guru's grace. It is a shortened form of the full Mool Mantar, the words that open each raag. It carries the same knowing: the world is one reality, received by grace.
Kabir's main picture is thirst and water. Jalat means burning inside, with craving and with feeling separate. Raam jal, the Water of the Name, is the felt presence of the One, the Naam.
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line, the center the whole shabad turns on. Ab mohi jalat raam jal paa-i-aa — I was burning, and now I have found the Water, and it has cooled me. Think of coming in from a scorching football practice and drinking a tall glass of cold water. The whole body settles.
What is something you kept looking for outside yourself before realizing it was already within reach?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI