Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O mind — hold the Lord's praises close, day and night.
How rare is the one who does not forget the Name! Not for a moment. Not even for an instant.
This line says: keep the Lord in your heart all day and all night. Very few people manage that.
This is the rahaa-o line. Rahaa-o means "pause." It is the line you stop on, the center of the whole song.
Man ray ahinis har gun saar: "O mind, day and night, treasure the Lord's good qualities." Ahinis means day and night, all the time.
Jin khin pal naam na veesrai: the person who does not forget the Naam, the Name, for a khin or a pal, two words for the smallest moment. Tay jan virlay sansaar: such people are virlay, rare in the world.
That sounds like a very high bar, and it is. But it is honest, not discouraging. It shows the direction without asking us to be perfect.
Think of learning to ride a bike. You wobble and put a foot down. You don't quit. You push off again. Remembering the Name works the same way. Each time you notice you have forgotten, you come back. That coming back is the practice.
When you notice you've lost your thread — your focus, your intention, your peace — do you return, or do you judge yourself for losing it? What would it look like to just return?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI