Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am a sacrifice — a sacrifice — to You.
I meditate on You continually.
The village was in ruins — but You have re-populated it. I am a sacrifice to You.
Kurbaan kurbaan jaa-ee — I am a sacrifice (kurbaan), a sacrifice, to You. The doubling intensifies: not once but twice, the full offering of self. Kurbaan appears across these ashtapadees as the seal of complete devotion — in Shabad 127 it was "I am a sacrifice to the True Guru," and here it is the response to what the divine has done: re-populated the ruined village.
Ghar-i ugarhaa-i-aa — the village (ghar-i — the home, the body-village) was in ruins (ugarhaa-i-aa — deserted, desolate, empty). Before the divine's intervention: the village the soul inhabits was deserted. This is the condition of the soul before grace — the inner life a ruin. After: vasiaa — populated, inhabited. The divine re-populates what was empty.
What populates the ruined village? The Lord Himself, through the Guru's grace and the Name. The five farm-hands at work in Pauri5 — now they are employed in a village that has been restored. The shift from ruin to fullness is entirely the Lord's action: toon-ai phir-i vasaa-i-aa — You have re-inhabited it. The divine re-settling of the interior life.
What part of your inner life has felt like a ruin — neglected, empty, deserted — and what began to restore it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI