Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
How can I cross this great ocean of the world?
While I am still alive, I cannot be dead.
Crossing the wide ocean of the world begins with a riddle: how can someone alive also be dead?
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad.
Kin biDh saagar taree-ai — how do I cross the ocean? The ocean here means the whole wide, stormy world, with all its worries.
Jeevti-aa nah maree-ai — while living, one cannot die. This is a puzzle, and it points to jeevan mukat: being free while still alive.
"Dying while living" has nothing to do with the body or with ending a life. It means letting the grabbing, worried "me first" self grow quiet. Think of a clenched fist slowly opening. The hand is still there, still alive, but now it can hold things gently. The answer to the riddle comes at the end, in a second pause line.
What would it feel like to worry a lot less about yourself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI