Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is such a longing in me for the One. Bring me to it, dear friends — and yet, the One is already so close to me, closer than I knew.
Through the teacher's words the Name keeps showing itself, and Nanak's heart's wishes have all come true.
The shabad closes by holding together, in a single breath, the two truths that these shabads keep circling: deep longing and astonishing nearness. Within my mind and body, there is such a great longing for God — the ache is named one more time, in full. And then, in the very same line of thought: God, the Lord of the Universe, is so close to me. The longing and the nearness coexist. The soul aches for the One and the One is nearer than near — which means the distance the longing seems to imply is not real. The Beloved was never far; the ache was for something already present, like thirst felt while standing in a river.
This is the great discovery these Gauree Maajh shabads keep arriving at, and it is deeply consoling. The soul does not have to journey across a vast gulf to reach the One; it has to realize the nearness of a Beloved already here. And the means is, as always, the Guru: through the Teachings of the True Guru, the Naam is always revealed. The Guru's words keep drawing back the veil so the soul sees how close the One has been all along. And the result is fulfillment: the desires of servant Nanak's mind have been fulfilled. The longing that ran through the whole shabad is satisfied — not by the One coming from far away, but by the soul discovering, through the teaching, that its Beloved was so close the whole time. Longing and nearness, held together, resolve into peace.
Is there something you long for as if it's far away, that might actually be 'so close' you keep looking past it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI