Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
On the road too long to measure, the Name is your food for the journey.
On the journey through total darkness, the Name is the light you carry.
On the road where nobody knows your face, the Name is how you are recognized.
Where the heat is fierce and the sun blazes, the Name is your shade. And Nanak says: where thirst makes you cry out, the sweet Name rains down on you.
The Name does not take the hard road away; it walks the hard road with you.
This verse paints five hard places. In each one, the Name shows up in a new way.
On maarag, a road too long to count the miles, the Name is food for the trip. In pitch darkness, the Name is light. Where no one knows you, the Name is how you are known. In blazing heat, the Name is shade. And where thirst makes you cry out, har har amrit barkhai — the sweet Name rains down. Amrit means the sweet, life-giving nectar.
These places are also pictures of life inside us. The long road is a whole life. The darkness is confusion and sadness. Being unknown is the soul feeling alone. The heat is hard times. The thirst is longing itself.
The Name does not make any of these places vanish. It goes along through them. Think of a long hike on a hot day with a friend who carries water and knows the trail. That is Sukhmani's honest promise. Not a shortcut around the desert, but shade and water in it.
What are you carrying for the long road - and will it still work in the dark stretches?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI