Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O dear ones — without devotion, why have people even come into this world?
They have not served the Perfect Guru. They have wasted their lives in vain.
Bhagat bin kiaa jagg aai-aa — without devotion (bhagat), why have people come into the world? The rahao poses the question that gives the ashtapadee its urgency: what is the purpose of a human life? The answer is implicitly given: devotion to the divine. And the question that follows: if you are not living that purpose, what exactly have you been doing here?
This is not a judgment on any individual — it is a statement about structure. The human life is a specific opportunity (a teaching established across the GGS). If the opportunity is not used for what it was given for — bhagat, the loving engagement with the divine — then the purpose of the coming has been missed.
Satgur sevi-aa nahi, jia ka-oo gavan — they have not served the Perfect Guru; they have gone in vain (gavan — departure, wasted journey). Gavan holds both meanings: the journey itself and the departure at death. Both the life and the leaving were in vain — nothing was accomplished that the life was designed to accomplish. This is Guru Amar Das's characteristic directness: clear-eyed about the stakes, without cruelty, without condescension. Just: this is what's happening, and it matters.
If your life ended tomorrow, what would you most regret not having done — and why haven't you done it yet?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI