Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Without the True Guru, faith does not come. Love for the Naam is not embraced.
Even in dreams, they find no peace. They sleep immersed in pain.
Bin satgur srad-dhaa na aavai, naam na laa-ee-ai — without the True Guru, faith (srad-dhaa — deep trust, settled conviction, the condition of genuine spiritual receptivity) does not come, and love for the Naam is not embraced. Srad-dhaa is the soil in which the Naam can take root. Without the Guru, the soil is not prepared. One can go through the motions — chanting, ritual, study — but the deep trust that makes the practice alive does not arrive.
Supnai sukh na aavai, dukh meh neend sabhaai — even in dreams, they find no peace; they sleep immersed in pain (dukh meh neend — their very sleep is soaked in pain). This is the signature image of the spiritual condition without the Guru: even the unconscious life — the dream life, the night — is not peaceful. The pain is not just daytime and conscious; it pervades the entire existence, waking and sleeping. Srad-dhaa's absence creates a pervasive disquiet that the ego cannot locate or fix because the ego is itself part of the problem.
Have you ever noticed anxiety or distress following you even into your sleep — and what does that tell you about what's unresolved in your waking life?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI