Pierced by the Sweet Arrow of Love

ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ਘਰੁ ੫

raag maaroo mehlaa 1 ghar 5

Raag Maaroo, First Mehl, Fifth House:

ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥

ik-o^Nkaar satgur parsaad.

One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:

ਅਹਿਨਿਸਿ ਜਾਗੈ ਨੀਦ ਨ ਸੋਵੈ ॥

ahinis jaagai need na sovai.

Day and night, he remains awake and aware; he never sleeps or dreams.

ਸੋ ਜਾਣੈ ਜਿਸੁ ਵੇਦਨ ਹੋਵੈ ॥

so jaanai jis vaydan hovai.

He alone knows this, who feels the pain of separation from God.

ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਕੇ ਕਾਨ ਲਗੇ ਤਨ ਭੀਤਰਿ ਵੈਦੁ ਕਿ ਜਾਣੈ ਕਾਰੀ ਜੀਉ ॥੧॥

paraym kay kaan lagay tan bheetar vaid ke jaanai kaaree jee-o. ||1||

My body is pierced through with the arrow of love. How can any physician know the cure? ||1||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

There is only One. And the One is found by the True Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.

When love for the One takes hold, the heart stays awake and alert, glad and full.

Only someone who has felt this longing understands it.

It is like being touched by a gentle arrow of love, an ache no ordinary medicine could cure, because it is love itself.

The ache of missing what you love is love keeping you awake.

The deeper layer

The arrow of love (prem kay kaan) is viraha, longing so alive it keeps the heart awake. It is a pain no physician can cure because it is not a sickness but love's own signature. This is the tender, wakeful heart the whole shabad honors. Ghar 5 opens on the sweetness of longing, not dread.

A Question to Sit With

Have you ever missed someone so much it showed how deeply you love them?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

About this shabad →

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