Guru Nanak sets this composition in the context of certain terms commonly used to refer to a bride who does know the way, who is graceful in her ways (
suchaji), and the bride who has a connection with her husband (
suhagani). Guru Nanak takes those terms and uses them in the broader context of the union between the human seeker (bride) and the Divine (the Spouse, IkOankar, the 1Force). Guru Nanak identifies with suchaji, the graceful bride who now knows the way. Because most of this composition is in the first person, the commentary is being presented from the first-person perspective:
When You are with me, I have all the wealth, Dearest! When You are within me, comfort and grandeur exist within me, Dearest! I have come to understand the Command within. I understand now. In Your will, some sit on the throne and receive greatnesses, others beg for alms. In Your will, some cross the world-ocean, and some do not. In Your will, the things I think to be opposites occur together. In Your will, water flows over a desert. In Your will that a lotus blooms in the sky, Dearest! In Your will, the things I thought to be impossible become possible. Maybe even in a heart like mine, love with the Spouse can come to dwell and color me in devotion.
I have come to understand Your play, Dearest! I have learned to walk in the Command, to feel it within me, Dearest! I understand, in Your will, I am colored by You, dyed in love. In Your will, I am devoid of color — I forget you, Dearest. I live and die, again and again, Dearest. The graceful bride is not graceful because she never has those moments of feeling devoid of color. I no longer see these as conflicts. I no longer am in turmoil about the moments I have without You.
You are immeasurable and ungraspable, so what can I ask? What can I say? Who shall I listen to, Dearest? I no longer need to ask. I do not care to decorate myself, to appear graceful to others. Appearances mean nothing if I am not graceful within, if I am not connected to You within. All I feel is hunger. I thirst for connection with You. I cannot live without that intimacy. But this is not just a physical ask anymore. I am not asking only to see You, Dearest. I am not asking for only one night, only a glimpse. I am asking for something deeper, so that even in those times where I feel so devoid of color, even when You are not physically with me, I am still connected to You. I want to carry You in my heart, Dearest. I want to transcend my own desires. I want connection that is beyond space and time. And so, my eternal prayer is to connect with You through the Wisdom (Guru). It is through this Wisdom that I can connect with you.
Guru Nanak identifies with the suchaji, who has experienced a shift in perspective, who understands the value of her own longing, who understands what it means to walk in the Will of the Spouse. Guru Nanak invokes the word
suchaji in another composition, remarking that all of the ways she has decorated herself for her Spouse are useless because she is not genuinely graceful within. So there is no attraction or intimacy in her relationship. This point can be taken generally to relationships and keeping up appearances, presenting one way to other people that lead them to make certain conclusions about our relationships, but lacking intimacy in private.
The graceful bride has felt a transcendence from the physicality that the ungraceful bride was situated in. This does not mean that the physical connection has ended — people want to identify with the ones they love in many ways, many of them are physical — whether that is in a certain garb, in certain body decorations, or in certain practices that create physical marks on the body. But that the physical is not the end goal. The goal is a perpetual connection. The graceful bride has felt a shift in perspective and understanding that allows her to be accepting at a deeply personal level, and continue seeking with this new understanding and experience.