Sikhism·Raag Sorath·Shabad 138
Verse 3 of 4

Even the Dearest Love Reaches a Limit

ਘਰ ਕੀ ਨਾਰਿ ਬਹੁਤੁ ਹਿਤੁ ਜਾ ਸਿਉ ਸਦਾ ਰਹਤ ਸੰਗ ਲਾਗੀ ॥
ghar kee naar bahut hit jaa si-o sadaa rahat sang laagee.
Your wife, whom you love so much, and who has remained ever attached to you,
ਜਬ ਹੀ ਹੰਸ ਤਜੀ ਇਹ ਕਾਂਇਆ ਪ੍ਰੇਤ ਪ੍ਰੇਤ ਕਰਿ ਭਾਗੀ ॥੨॥
jab hee hans tajee ih kaaN-i-aa parayt parayt kar bhaagee. ||2||
runs away crying, "Ghost! Ghost!", as soon as the swan-soul leaves this body. ||2||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

Even the person you love most dearly, who has been by your side through everything, can only walk with you so far.

There is a threshold at the very edge of a life that no companion can cross with you.

Knowing this gently, without fear, points the heart toward the one Love that goes all the way.

Even the dearest human love can only walk with you so far; one Love goes the whole way.
The deeper layer

ghar kee naar bahut hit jaa si-o — the dearly loved companion. The literal describes her fleeing in fright as the hans (swan-soul) leaves the body. Per the wellbeing rules the graphic funeral image and the cry of 'ghost' are dropped; the kept teaching is that even the closest human love has a horizon it cannot pass. Handled as calm memento mori in the gentle Mehl 9 register — a fact held with trust, not dread.

A Question to Sit With

What is a kind of love you believe never really ends?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

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