Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Deep inside me there's a longing to be close to the One — how do I get there?
A baby can play a hundred games, but it still can't do without its mother's milk.
In the same way, nothing else fills the hunger in me — not even a feast of a hundred dishes.
My whole heart is full of love and longing; how can I rest until I see the One I love?
This soul-bride shabad of Guru Arjan opens with the raag's ache and its most tender simile: jaise baalak... doodh binaa nahee jeeai — "a baby may play hundreds of games, but he cannot survive without milk." The soul's need for the One is that basic, that non-negotiable — like a baby's need for its mother. And no substitute satisfies: "even a hundred dishes" can't fill a hunger that is really for one thing. For a child, this is immediately understandable: some needs are so deep that nothing else can stand in for them.
What do you need so deeply that no substitute could ever replace it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI