Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
After being separated for so long — lifetime after lifetime apart — I have finally met the One again. By the holy teacher's kindness, what was dried up and dead in me went green and alive once more. I received true wisdom, I hold the Name in my heart, and turning toward the light, the meeting happened at last.
This pauri is about reunion after long separation, and it carries the deepest emotional charge of Raag Maajh. Janam janam kaa vichhurhiaa miliaa — "the one vichhurhiaa (separated, cut off) for janam janam (lifetime after lifetime) has now miliaa (met, united)." The separation is described as ancient, going back through countless lives — the soul has been apart from its source for a very, very long time. And now, at last, the meeting. This is viraha — the long pain of separation — resolved into union. The longer the separation, the sweeter the reunion.
The image of transformation is unforgettable: saadh kripaa te sookaa hariaa — "by the saadh (holy one's) kripaa (grace), the sookaa (dried-up, withered) became hariaa (green, alive, flourishing)." Picture a tree or branch that had gone completely brown and dead — and then, suddenly, it is green again, putting out leaves. This is the monsoon miracle: the dried land of the dry season, brown and lifeless, turns green when the rains come. The soul long-separated from its source had become sookaa — dried out, withered, dead inside. And the saint's grace makes it hariaa — green, living, blossoming. Nothing in nature so vividly captures resurrection as the desert going green after rain.
And the means are named: sumat paae naam dhiaae gurmukh hoe melaa — "[I] received sumat (true understanding), I dhiaae (remember) the Naam, and as gurmukh (turned toward the light), the melaa (meeting) happened." The reunion is not accidental; it comes through receiving wisdom (a gift, sumat), remembering the Name, and the gurmukh turning of the face. The withered soul does not green itself; the saint's grace waters it, and then — turned toward the light, holding the Name — it flowers into reunion. The long separation of lifetimes ends, and the dead comes alive. This is the deepest promise of Raag Maajh: however long the soul has been parched and apart, grace can turn it green again.
The verse pictures something "dried up" going green and alive again. Have you ever felt dried out or stuck inside, and then something brought you back to life? What watered you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI