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.
When I was young and full of myself, I forgot something simple: I am only a guest here, staying a while at my first home before moving on. I did not stop to gather the good that would travel with me.
I chased and wandered and let bright years slip past without learning what they were for. I never got to know the One whose home is calm and whose door is always open — I slept through the very night I was meant to be awake.
And so a part of me felt alone and withered, like a plant with no sun. But that ache is not the end of the story — it is the wake-up call.
Here the wedding-Chhant begins (Mehl 1, Ghar 1). bhar joban mai mat — drunk on the wine of youth — the soul did not realize pay-ee-arhai ghar paahunee, that she is only a guest at her parents' house, an old image for our short stay in this world. The last line uses harsh old wording, baaltan raadepaa, a young soul feeling widowed and withered. We render the ache honestly but drop the stigma the old word carried: this is a soul feeling dried-out and alone without the Beloved, and — crucially — the very next pauri answers it with a promise that she is never truly abandoned. The point is the wake-up, not the shame.
If you knew you were only visiting a place for a little while, what would you make sure to notice or do?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI