Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Sometimes the One I love feels far away, like a dear friend in a distant land. So I send my love across the miles.
I hold that Friend close in my thoughts, and my eyes fill — not with despair, but with how much I miss the closeness. I keep remembering all that is wonderful about the One.
I do not know the way across on my own; the path looks long and hard. But the Word becomes the bridge, and the far-apart heart is brought near again.
Then it is like finding a tree heavy with the sweetest fruit — I meet my Beloved and taste how good that nearness is.
This one is about missing someone you love, and finding the way back to them.
Poets call this feeling viraha, the ache of being apart from someone you love. Saajan days vidaysee-arhay — my Friend, You are far away in another land. So the soul sends a message of love across the miles. Her eyes fill with tears as she remembers how good the Friend is.
Think of a grandparent who lives across the world. You video-call, you miss them, and you remember their laugh. Those tears are not despair. They show how much you care.
But she does not know the way. The path looks long and hard. Then the answer comes: satgur sabdee milai vichhunnee — through the True Guru's word, the one who was apart is brought close. The Word is the bridge.
The verse ends with a tree heavy with sweet fruit, amrit birakh, the tree of nectar. Being together again tastes that sweet.
Is missing someone you love a kind of proof of how much you care?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI