Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The one who lives only for their own ego is, in a way, sick — carrying an illness through the world. They've forgotten the One who actually gives peace, the One beyond all reach and limit. And so they wander around miserable, day after day, crying out in pain — because without the Guru, there's simply no peace to be found.
This verse says the person who lives only for the ego is not wicked but unwell, and the cure is remembering.
Manmukh rogee hai sansaaraa means "the self-willed one is sick in the world." A manmukh faces their own ego instead of the light. Rogee means sick. This is a very kind way to see it. A sick person isn't bad. They are hurting, and they need healing, not blame. The gossip and harshness of the earlier verse are seen here as signs of an illness, not crimes that call for punishment. The manmukh isn't an enemy. They are a patient who hasn't found the medicine yet.
The verse names the root of the illness exactly. Sukh-daata visri-aa agam apaaraa means "they have forgotten the Giver of peace, the One beyond reach and without end." The sickness isn't something the world did to them. It is a forgetting. The One was never gone. The manmukh just lost track, the way you can sit in a sunny room so wrapped up in worry that you never notice the warmth. Peace was always on offer. Forgetting closed the eyes to it.
What follows is sad and true. Dukhee-ay nit fireh billaaday means "the suffering ones wander all the time, crying out." Billaaday is the sound of real sorrow, crying out loud. It is the same restless wandering we saw earlier, but here we hear the pain in it.
The cure is gentle and simple. Bin gur saant na paavni-aa means "without the Guru, no peace is found." The Guru is the true Teacher. Not "without trying harder." Not "without being good enough." Without the Guru, the one who reminds a forgetful heart of the peace it forgot. If you forgot where you put your keys, the fix isn't to feel bad. It's for someone to say, "Look, they're right there." The medicine for forgetting is reminding. That is what the Guru does: points back to the peace that was always there.
When you're most miserable and restless, what have you usually *forgotten* — and what gently reminds you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI