Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Hey, why are you working so hard to earn and pile up more?
Your body is like a bag puffed up with air. The skin is thin, and in time the body grows old and dusty.
Why spend a whole life chasing more and more?
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad.
"Kahaa karahi ray khaat khaatulee" means why work so hard just to earn and pile up? The word ray is a friendly call, like "hey, you." It is a nudge, not a scolding.
Then he says the body is like a bag puffed up with air. The skin grows thin, and the body grows old. These pictures are not meant to scare anyone. They remind us that our time here is short and precious.
Think of a phone battery. You would not spend all of it on one silly game. Life is the same. It is worth asking what we are spending it on.
If your time is a limited gift, what would you most want to spend it on?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI