Salok Sehskritee, Salok 20 — Everything Borrowed, Grace Still Given
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Money does not last. The thinking mind does not last. Hopes of every kind do not last.
Love and clinging, the knots of ego, doubt, the shiny world and the dirt of wrong ways — none of these last.
A person wanders through countless births, through the heat of the womb again and again, and does not remember the One; that mind is clouded.
O Lord of the Universe, when You are kind, even those who have fallen are lifted up. Nanak says: this happens in the Sangat.
Everything we hold is only for a while, and when the One is kind, even those who have fallen are lifted up.
Money does not last. Hopes of every kind do not last. Even the knots of love, pride, doubt and maya are only for a while. Maya is the pull of things that shine but pass away. The verse says a person goes around and around, again and again, and forgets the One.
Think of a library book. You can love it and read it every night. But it goes back one day. That is not sad. It just helps you hold it lightly.
Then the verse turns. Hay gobind karat ma-i-aa — when the One is kind, even those who have lost their way are lifted up. Patit uDhaaran saaDh sangmah: the fallen are lifted up in the Sangat.
What is something you have been holding as 'mine' that is just passing through your hands for now?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI