Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
This world is a passing-through place — hold that firmly in your mind.
The end already has me by the hair, and still, somehow, I go on as if I don't know it.
This is the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. It says: life is short, and we keep forgetting it.
Dunee-aa mukaamay faanee — the world is a place we are only passing through. Nanak uses a picture from Islamic tradition. Azraa-eel is the angel who comes at the end of a life. Nanak says the angel already holds him by the hair. And still he acts as if he does not know.
The surprise is not that life ends. Everyone knows that. The surprise is how easily we forget it. Think of a phone at five percent battery. We keep scrolling as if it will last forever.
The shabad says this gently. It wants us to wake up and use our time well.
What would you do differently today if you truly held that your time here is limited?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI