Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I stand by the wayside and ask the Way. If only someone would show me the Way to God — I would go with them.
I follow in the footsteps of those who enjoy the Love of my Beloved.
I beg of them, I implore them. I have such a yearning to meet God.
The image of standing by the wayside and asking the Way is perhaps Guru Ram Das's most iconic opening. He is not pretending to have found the path. He is genuinely asking everyone who passes whether they know the way.
Vaata poochhaa — I ask the Way. Jo bhaavai piaare — those who enjoy the Love of the Beloved — their footsteps he follows. He doesn't need someone to explain the theology. He needs to see someone who has genuinely found the Beloved and walk behind them.
This is the honest seeker's posture: no pretense of knowledge, full intensity of longing, complete willingness to follow whoever has genuinely found.
Have you ever been so hungry to understand something that you asked everyone you met? What were you trying to find, and did you find it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI