Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Listen, O my mind — my friend, my darling: now is the time to meet. Not tomorrow. Not when you're older, richer, wiser. Now.
As long as there is youth and breath, give this whole self to the connection.
Without this inner quality — this genuine alignment — the body is useless. It crumbles to dust. Don't let it crumble empty.
The urgency of this shabad is unusual. Guru Nanak is not calmly meditating here — he is calling out to his own mind: now. The shubh vehlaa (auspicious time, favorable moment) is being identified as: right now, while you still have energy and breath.
This connects to the Buddhist teaching of don't squander this precious human birth — the window of this life for genuine realization is particular. Youth especially, because the energy and openness available then are specific to that season of life.
The address to the mind as "friend" and "darling" (yaar, pyaare) is tender. Guru Nanak is not scolding the mind — he is pleading with it, as a beloved companion.
Is there something you've been waiting to do — to change, to say, to begin — until the right time? What's actually stopping you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI