Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Head down and feet up, it dwells in that cramped place.
Nanak, how could we forget the One? Through its Name we are saved.
The image of the unborn child — "head downwards, feet up" in the tight dark of the womb — is used to make one point: in that helpless, upside-down place, the One held you. And so, the verse asks with genuine feeling, "how could we forget the Master?" Having been carried through the most helpless moment of existence, forgetting the One afterward seems almost unthinkable. The gratitude is meant to be personal: the same care that held you when you could do nothing holds you still.
If someone cared for you when you were completely helpless, what would it mean to remember that all your life?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI