Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Once love for the One pierces your heart, nothing else can pull you away.
A fish cannot live pulled out of water; that is how much I need the One — being apart even feels like not being able to breathe.
I am like the rainbird waiting with an open beak for a single drop, like the chakvi bird longing through the night for the first ray of sun.
My whole mind is fixed on that longed-for sight, and blessed are the days and nights when I get to sing of the One.
Nanak prays: without the One, how could the breath of life keep flowing in me?
Love for the One is as needed as water is for a fish.
Viraha means the ache of being apart from someone you love. Here it is shown with a fish and two birds. Meen bichhohaa naa sahai: the fish cannot bear being apart from water. The chaatrik, a rainbird, waits for a single drop of rain: chaatrik boond pi-aasi-aa, the rainbird thirsty for a drop. The chakvee bird waits all night for the sun: kab rain bihaavai, when will the night pass? The old story says she is apart from her mate all night, and they meet again at dawn.
Think of waiting at the airport for someone you love to walk through the gate. The waiting aches because the love is big.
This longing is not despair. It shows how deep love's roots go. The ache itself is proof of the bond.
What do you miss so much when it is gone that you know how much it means to you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI