Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
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.
He gives peace to your very breath and life to your soul - how could you forget Him?
Chasing a thin, watery sweetness, we can lose our way, and let this rare, precious life slip past.
How could you forget the One who gives you every breath?
Guru Arjan opens this shabad with Ik Oankaar, Satgur Parsaad: "One Creator, known by the True Guru's grace."
The One is paraan sukh-daata, the Giver of peace to every breath. The One is jee-a sukh-daata, the Giver of life to the soul. So why forget?
Then comes a picture. Hochhaa mad means a thin, watery drink, a sweetness with almost nothing in it. Chasing it, a person gets silly and dizzy. And the dulabh janam, this rare and precious human life, slips by for nothing.
Think of a kid who gets a whole free day at the beach, and spends it all staring at a phone game. When the sun goes down, the ocean was right there the whole time.
The verse calls such a person agi-aanath, "one who does not know." It is less a scolding than a wake-up call. Life is too precious to spend on thin sweetness.
What is one precious thing about being alive that you do not want to miss?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI