Find the Well in a Drought and Call the Neighbors
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Friends, companions, good-hearted ones - make this the work of your lives:
set the rest aside, and keep the Name. Remember, remember, remember - and find peace. Take it yourself, and help others take it.
By loving devotion you cross the world-ocean; without it, the body's whole career ends in ash.
All joys and comforts live in the treasure of the Name. Even the drowning are carried to safety. Every sorrow lifts. Say the Name - it is the treasury of everything good.
Once you find something this good, you want to share it. So remember the Name, and help others remember too.
The verse turns from quiet prayer to a call out loud. Saajan sant karahu ih kaam — friends, good-hearted ones, make this your work. It sounds like someone who has found a well in a dry season, running to call the neighbors.
At its center, the very first line of Sukhmani comes back. Simar simar simar sukh paavhu — remember, remember, remember, and find peace. Ashtapadee 1 opened with these words. Now, twenty hymns later, they return like a chorus. The whole of Sukhmani turns out to be one long unfolding of that first line.
Two lines stand at opposite ends. Bin bhagtee tan hosee chhaar — without loving devotion, the body becomes chhaar, ashes. A whole lifetime burns away, never really spent. Then the other end: boodat jaat paa-ay bisraam — even someone going under finds a place of rest and safety. The rescue reaches past the last moment anyone would expect. No one has sunk too far.
And the sharing line comes back, as it always does. Aap japahu avrah naam japaavhu — remember the Name yourself, and help others remember it. A well does not run dry because many people bring buckets.
If you found something that truly helped you, who would you tell first - and what stops people from sharing the deepest helps?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI