Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The peacocks are calling and the monsoon rains have come — the whole world feels alive with longing, and my heart aches to be near the One I love.
I would give anything just to be close; without that love, what would I even have to be proud of?
I dressed up and decorated myself in every way I could think of — but I slowly learned that the outside is not what wins a heart.
The one thing that keeps me apart is a little wall inside me: the feeling that I am separate, all on my own. That feeling is the whole distance.
I cried, and it felt as if the whole world cried with me. Even the birds in the forest seemed to cry.
My Beloved came to me in a dream, and then was gone again, and my eyes filled with tears. I cannot go to Him, and I cannot send anyone. Come, sweet sleep, maybe I will see Him again.
If someone brought me a message from my Beloved, what could I give them? I would give them my whole self, and still keep serving.
So I stopped fussing over how I looked and started longing, honestly, for the love itself — and I asked, with my whole heart, to be brought close again.
This song is about missing someone you love so much that it aches. It also names the one thing that keeps us apart.
Guru Nanak writes in an old Indian style called viraha, the song of longing for someone far away. It is set in Saawan, the rainy season. The peacocks are calling and the rains have come. In the old stories, this is the time when loved ones come home. So a person who is still alone feels it even more.
The soul-bride has tried everything on the outside. Bangles, braided hair, bright red in her hair parting. None of it brings her Beloved close. Think of dressing up perfectly for a party, when what you really wanted was to feel welcome. The outside was never the point.
The heart of the poem is one line. She weeps, the world weeps, even the birds of the forest weep. Ik na runaa mayray tan kaa birhaa: the only thing that does not weep is my own feeling of being separate. Jin ha-o pirahu vichhorhee: that feeling is what has pulled me away from my Beloved. The ego, the sense of "just me, on my own," is the very wall between us. The cure is not better decorations. It is letting that inner wall come down.
The poem uses very strong pictures of heartbreak, the way old love poems do. They are poetry's way of saying "I miss you with everything I am." They are not real wishes. If you ever do feel so sad that you wish you weren't here, tell a grown-up you trust right away. That is always the right thing to do.
What helps you feel close and connected again after you've felt lonely or far apart?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI