Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I have no real understanding; caught in passing pleasures, I have forgotten the One's praise.
The One is right here with me, but I don't recognize it — instead I run off into the forest looking for it.
Here is one of the most poignant and universal images in all of Gurbani: "The Lord is with me, but I do not know Him; instead, I run into the forest, looking for Him." The seeker searches everywhere outside — off into the wilderness, on distant quests — for what is standing right beside him, closer than close. This is the whole human comedy of spiritual searching: we look far and wide for what was never absent, missing the near because we are straining toward the far. Guru Tegh Bahadur names it with gentle irony. The One is here, has always been here — and the running-around is itself what keeps us from noticing.
Have you ever searched everywhere for something that was right next to you the whole time? Could that happen with what matters most?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI