Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Someone who goes searching for the One *outside* their own body won't find the Name — they'll just wear themselves out in pointless, forced labor and suffering. The ego-facing person, blind, doesn't get it. But when at last they come back home to themselves and face the light, *there* they find the real thing.
Searching outside for the One is like leaving the house to look for keys that are in your own pocket.
Sareerahu bhaalan ko baahar jaa-ay — someone goes outside the body to search for the One. But the first verse said the treasure is inside the body's cave. So this seeker is doing the opposite of what works. They leave the very place the treasure is hidden, to look for it everywhere else. The harder and farther they search, the more sure it is they will not find it. They are looking in every place except the one place it is.
Naam na lahai bahut vaygaar dukh paa-ay — they do not find the Name, and they suffer the pain of vaygaar. Vaygaar meant forced work with no pay. It was hard, tiring labor that earned nothing. The outward searcher's long journeys and rituals are like that. They work very hard, but it all points the wrong way, so it never reaches the treasure inside. Another shabad spoke of carrying heavy loads for no wages. It is the same idea. All effort, no reward.
Why can't they see this? Manmukh anDhay soojhai naahee — the manmukh (a person who follows only their own ego) is blind and does not understand. This is the inner blindness the Guru's eye ointment healed in the last verse.
But the verse ends with real hope. Fir ghir aa-ay gurmukh vath paavni-aa — when they come back home and turn toward the Guru, they find the vath, the real thing. "Coming home" is the key. Other shabads call it the true home within. After all the tiring wandering, the seeker finally turns around and comes home to their own heart. And there, sitting quietly the whole time, is the treasure they crossed the world to find.
The song keeps saying this. The spiritual journey is a long loop that ends where it started: inside. The only real search is turning back home.
Have you ever searched everywhere for something that was right where you started? What finally made you look in the obvious place?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI