Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O my Beloved — I live by meditating on Your Name.
Without Your Name, my life does not even exist. My True Guru has implanted the Naam within me.
This one says: I live by remembering Your Name.
This is the Rahao, the "pause" line. It is the center of the shabad.
Guru Ram Das speaks very closely here, as if to someone he loves. Mayray pareetamaa ha-o jeevaa naam Dhi-aa-ay — my Beloved, I live by remembering the Name. Not "the Name helps me" or "the Name makes me better." It is how he stays alive. Bin naavai jeevan naa thee-ai — without the Name, there is no life at all.
This is what real practice feels like after a while. The Name isn't one more thing you do on top of living. It is how you live. Think of a fish in water. The fish doesn't "use" the water now and then. It lives in it.
Mayray satgur naam drirh-aa-ay — my True Guru planted the Name inside me. It isn't something outside. It is a presence within.
Is there anything in your life that feels as necessary as breath — something that, if removed, would feel like the center was gone? What is that thing?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI