Every Hunger Was Thirst for One Thing

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

This last verse says the Word is nectar, it settles in the heart, and drinking it satisfies every hunger.

The song gathers its one big word a final time. "Amrit sabad amrit har banee" — the shabad is nectar, the Lord's bani (sacred Word) is nectar. The Name, the Word, the love, the One's will: all the same sweetness seen from different sides. Now we hear where it lands. "Satgur sayvi-ai ridai samaanee" — by serving the True Guru, it soaks into the heart (ridai). Not just memorized in the head, not only spoken by the mouth. Settled in the heart. The sweet Word that began on the tongue earlier in the song has now soaked right through to the middle.

The last line answers our deepest ache. "Pee amrit sabh bhukh leh jaavni-aa" — drink the nectar, and all hunger is satisfied. So much of life is hunger. Not just for food, but for more stuff, more likes, more wins. "I'll be happy when..." never quite arrives. That is the thirst behind all the grabbing the song warned about. The Name quenches it. Not by giving you more of what you craved, but by filling the empty spot those cravings were trying to fill. The hunger goes quiet because you found what it was really for.

And the Name is "sadaa sukh-daata" — always the giver of peace. Every worldly treat fades by morning; the tradition calls such things kachaa, not lasting. This peace doesn't run out. The song began with "through the nectar, the nectar." It ends with the circle complete: drink, be filled, be at peace. That is the real meaning of amrit, the drink that never dies. Not endless life for the grabbing self, but a heart with nothing left to chase.