Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O my King, I am a seeker at heart, a wanderer set free.
And so I do not really die, or drown in grief, or ache with the pain of being cut off — because I am rooted in something that cannot be lost.
This is the heart of the shabad: a person rooted in the One is not knocked over by grief.
This line is the Rahao, the "pause" line. It is the center of the shabad, the idea everything else turns around. Kabir speaks to the One as mayray raajan, "my King." He calls himself bairaagee jogee: a free-hearted seeker, not tied down by anything.
Then he says, marat na sog bi-ogee — I do not die, or grieve, or suffer being cut off. This does not pretend life is never hard. It is the peace of someone whose roots go deep into the One, who never changes.
Picture a tall tree in a storm. Its branches swing and bend, but its roots hold. That steadiness is sahaj, a calm, natural balance. Sad feelings still pass through. They cannot pull up a heart planted in the One.
What is the deep-down thing in you that stays steady even when hard feelings pass through?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI