Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O Beloved, my King, free me from just this one worry:
that I might keep coming and going, never quite arriving home.
This one is Kabir's single, humble prayer.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. Ik dukh raam raa-ay kaatahu mayraa — O Lord, my King, take away just this one pain of mine.
He does not ask for money or comfort. His words are agan dahai ar garabh basayraa — being burned in the fire, and living in the womb again. That is his way of naming the endless coming and going: being born, dying, being born again, and never quite finding home.
Think of a traveler who keeps changing trains but never reaches the house where family is waiting. Kabir asks only to arrive home in the One. Everything else in the shabad circles around this one quiet prayer.
If you could ask for only one thing that really mattered, what would it be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI