Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In the second watch of the night, youth rises in you like a wave — powerful, intoxicating, a little overwhelming. In the rush of it, you can't always tell what's good from what isn't. Your mind is drunk on its own sense of self.
But the road ahead is harder than it looks. All this time, you're not staying close to the teaching that could guide you. And death is already standing at your shoulder.
When the day comes and you are asked — what did you do with the life you were given? — what will you say?
Says Nanak: in the second watch, the waves of youth toss you about.
Youth as flood — the wave metaphor
Bhar ju'ānī lahrī de'e — "the fullness of youth rises in you like waves." The Punjabi word lahrī means wave, surge, billow. Guru Arjan chooses this image deliberately: youth is not a stable state but a surge — it rises, it crests, it carries you. The word also has connotations of intoxication and recklessness. The waves of youth toss the soul rather than carrying it deliberately toward the other shore.
The same word lahrī appears in the third pauri with "waves of greed" (lahar lobhān). This connects the second and third watches: the energy of youth, undirected, becomes the greed of middle age. The surge that could have been channeled becomes an addiction.
"Your mind is intoxicated with ego"
Man matā ahamm e'e — "your mind is intoxicated with ego." Aham is Sanskrit for ego — the I-sense. In Punjabi here it appears as a compound that means literally the-ness of I-am, the intoxication of self-importance. The youth who is drunk on ego cannot learn because they already know. Cannot hear correction because they are already right. Cannot find the Guru because they do not believe they need one.
"The road ahead is treacherous"
Āgai panth karārā — "the road ahead is treacherous, difficult, steep." This is Guru Arjan's topographical metaphor for what awaits the soul that has not prepared: a steep and difficult path. The word karārā suggests sheer drops, hard surfaces, places where a misstep is costly. The youth who thinks the road is easy has not yet seen its terrain.
*When you imagine standing before something that asks what you did with your life, what would you most want to be able to answer?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI