Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O mind — love the Lord the way a fish loves the water it swims in.
The more the water, the more the happiness — the deeper and wider the water, the greater the peace in mind and body.
Without water, she cannot live for even an instant. The Lord knows the ache she would feel.
Jaisee machulee neer — as the fish loves the water. The fish and the lotus have a different relationship to their element: the lotus floats on the surface; the fish is immersed, surrounded on all sides, swimming through the water in every direction. There is no direction the fish can face that is not water. The fish's relationship is more total, more intimate than the lotus's.
Ji-o adhika-o ti-o sukh ghano — the more the water, the more the happiness. This is one of the most striking lines in the ashtapadee: more of the beloved, more joy. Not enough, not sufficient — more. The soul's longing for the divine does not become satisfied and then diminish. It grows as it is fed. This is the opposite of how worldly desire works: worldly desires produce diminishing returns (each new pleasure requires more to produce the same satisfaction). The divine's love produces increasing returns: the more you receive, the more you want, and the wanting is itself a form of joy.
Bin jal gharhi na jeev-ee, Prabh jaanai abh peer — without water, she cannot live for an instant; God knows the suffering of her mind. The last phrase is quietly profound: Prabh jaanai — the Lord knows. The fish's suffering in drought is not invisible to the divine. The soul's suffering in separation is not unobserved, unwitnessed. The Lord knows.
Is there something in your life whose absence you would feel immediately, even for an instant — and what does that tell you about what genuinely sustains you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI