Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Slipping away, slipping away, your life is slipping away for nothing.
Night and day you listen to the Puraanas, the old holy stories, but you do not understand them, O unknowing one.
Death has already come. Now where will you run?
A life can slip by unused, and holy words heard every day still need to reach the heart before the end comes.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. Beet jaihai beet jaihai janam akaaj: slipping away, your life slips away for nothing. Kaal ta-o pahoochi-o aan: death has arrived, and kahaa jaihai bhaaj, where will you run?
The middle line, hearing the puraan day and night without understanding them, is about holy words that never reach the heart. The same warning fits anyone in any faith who repeats holy words without letting them change how they live.
Guru Tegh Bahadur's words about death are urgent, and they point toward the One, who never dies.
Is there something true you've heard many times but haven't yet let reach your heart?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI