By Hitesh Singh 
Guru Nanak Sahib Ji gives us one of the clearest and most honest pictures of human life ever written. In a short shabad on Ang 137 of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, He walks us through the full arc of existence, from the first breath of a newborn to the final return to ashes. He shows how easily each stage can become a trap of attachment, and then points us toward the only way to live it with meaning.
This teaching is not meant to make us feel hopeless. It simply asks a quiet but powerful question: while you are busy living these stages, are you also preparing the soul?
Stages 1 to 4: The Soft Beginnings of Childhood
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Guru Nanak Sahib Ji begins with the earliest years of life.
- First stage: The baby’s whole world is mother’s milk. Survival and comfort are everything.
- Second stage: The child starts to recognise mother and father. The first bonds of love, safety and belonging take root.
- Third stage: Brothers, sisters-in-law and sisters enter the picture. Social awareness begins and the child learns how to relate to others.
- Fourth stage: The love of play awakens. Toys, exploration and discovery fill the days.
These early years feel pure and necessary. Yet even here the seed of attachment is already being planted to people, to pleasure, and to the self that is slowly forming.
Stages 5 to 8: Youth and Adulthood – The Years of Entanglement
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The middle stages of life are where most of us spend the greatest part of our energy.
- Fifth stage: The person runs after food and drink. Sensory pleasure becomes a main focus while spiritual nourishment is often neglected.
- Sixth stage: Strong sexual desire rises. In its intensity, social customs and deeper values can be set aside.
- Seventh stage: The drive to gather wealth, status and a household takes over. Accumulation starts to define identity, and relationships often suffer in the process.
- Eighth stage: Anger and frustration begin to consume the person. Hostility damages both others and the self. The body itself starts to pay the price.
These years feel like “real life.” Many of us spend decades convinced that the next achievement or possession will finally bring lasting peace.
Stages 9 and 10: The Closing Chapters
- Ninth stage: Hair turns grey and breathing becomes laboured. The body that once chased so much now grows tired. This is the quiet preparation for departure.
- Tenth stage: The body is cremated and turns to ashes. Even the name that once felt so important is eventually forgotten by the world.
Guru Nanak Sahib Ji then delivers the piercing conclusion of the shabad:
ਨਾਨਕ ਮਨਮੁਖਿ ਅੰਧੁ ਪਿਆਰੁ ॥ ਬਾਝੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਡੁਬਾ ਸੰਸਾਰੁ ॥੨॥
Nanak, the self-willed manmukhs love the darkness. Without the Guru, the world is drowning.
What This Teaching Really Means for Us
The message is not that life is worthless. It is that a life lived only for the stages themselves, without the guiding light of the Guru, ends in emptiness. Guru Nanak Sahib Ji does not ask us to abandon the stages. He teaches us how to move through them with awareness, virtue, and love for Waheguru so that the journey itself becomes meaningful.
In the end it is not how long we live, but how we live, and whether we allow the Guru’s wisdom to turn ordinary days into a path of union with the Divine.
This reflection carries special weight for the global Sikh diaspora. Many of us balance careers, family responsibilities, and cultural identity across different countries and time zones. Returning to this shabad regularly is a gentle reminder that the true measure of a life is not the house we built or the wealth we gathered, but the living bond we kept with Waheguru.
If this teaching speaks to you, take a quiet moment today to sit with the full shabad. Let it settle. The stages of life will continue to unfold. The choice of how we walk through them remains ours.
