Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Friends, please bring me to my One, my dearest friend — my whole self is hungry for it. I cannot go on without seeing my Beloved; the ache of being apart cuts deep.
But the great King is my Beloved, my best friend. Through the teacher I met it, and my mind came alive again. Everything I hoped for has come true, and my heart rings with joy.
This stanza is the rawest expression of longing in the shabad — and then its answer. It opens with a plea to the Saints and a confession of need so total it sounds like survival: my mind and body are hungry for Him. I cannot survive without seeing my Beloved; deep within, I feel the pain of separation. This is viraha at its most intense — not a wistful wish but a hunger felt as a matter of life and death, the soul declaring it cannot survive the absence of its Beloved. Guru Ram Das does not soften the longing; he lets it burn.
And precisely because the longing is so total, the fulfillment is so complete. The Sovereign Lord King is my Beloved, my Best Friend. Through the Guru, I have met Him, and my mind has been rejuvenated. The word rejuvenated — hariaa, turned green again — answers the withering of the previous stanza directly: the dried plant is now green, the dying soul revived. The hopes of my mind and body have been fulfilled... my mind vibrates with joy. The hunger that felt unsurvivable is fed; the separation that cut so deep is healed through the Guru; and the soul, green again, vibrates with joy. The depth of the earlier ache is the measure of the height of this joy — only a soul that longed that much could rejoice this much.
Is there a longing in you so deep it feels like survival — and what would it mean to bring it honestly to the right 'Saints'?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI