Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Even the greatest rulers have every pleasure and delight at their fingertips. Yet if the Name is missing inside, none of it lasts.
Chasing only the outside leaves a person empty in the end. They wish they had reached for what truly stays.
Pleasures and power feel great, but they cannot hold us up forever.
The verse looks at narpat raajay — kings and rulers — who enjoy every delight. Without the Name, it says, death takes them all in the end. Then it uses an old picture: Dharam raa-ay, the Judge of what is right, with his staff. When the results of their actions land in their hands, they wish they had chosen differently.
Think of building a sandcastle right at the edge of the water. It can be the grandest castle on the beach. When the tide comes in, it is gone. The Judge picture is a way of saying our choices come back to us. What we build on pleasure alone does not last. The Name inside us is what stays.
What is something fun that felt empty once it was over?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI