Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Without a real guide, the heart keeps searching and searching and cannot quite find its rest.
Turned away and forgetful, it wanders restlessly, never quite settling anywhere.
But turn toward the teaching, and you get to drink something sweet and calming, and slip easily into what is true, like coming home at last.
This verse says the true sweetness of life is found through a guide.
Bin satgur sayvay kinai na paa-i-aa: without the satgur, the True Guru, no one finds the One. The manmukh, a heart turned toward its own wants, cries out and cannot settle.
Aavahi jaaveh thaur na paavahi: they come and go and find no place to rest. Think of trying to find a friend's new house without directions, driving round the same streets again and again.
Then the verse turns hopeful. The gurmukh, a heart turned toward the teaching, amrit peevai: drinks amrit, the sweet nectar of the Name. Sehjay saach samaa-ee: easily, naturally, they settle into what is true. It feels like finally pulling into the right driveway and coming home.
Where do you go, or who do you turn to, to feel truly at rest?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI