Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When I forget the love that lives right inside me, I can feel lost — pulled this way and that, half-asleep to what matters most.
In that fog it is easy to be tugged around by wanting, by anger, by the need to feel bigger than others, and none of it brings peace.
But even that lost feeling is really a call. It is my heart noticing that something is missing and turning to look for home.
Without keeping the True One in mind, I drift; the moment I remember, the drifting begins to end.
This one shows what happens when we forget the One we love.
In Gurbani the soul is often pictured as a bride, and the One as the Beloved she longs for. Here the bride has drifted off to sleep. She has forgotten how precious her Beloved is. Bhul bhul pachhotaanee — lost and mixed up, she ends up full of regret.
Wanting too much, anger and pride push her around. Ha-umai lagee taatay — ha-umai, the "me first" feeling, makes her hot and restless inside.
Think of scrolling a phone late at night. You keep going, half-asleep, and feel worse, not better. Nothing on the screen gives you what you were really looking for.
The verse is honest about that lost feeling. But the feeling is also a signal. It is the heart noticing that something is missing. In the next verse, that feeling turns into a prayer to come home.
When you feel scattered or lost, what helps you remember what matters most?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI