Savaiye Sri Mukhbak (Mehl 5), Verse 17 — Shiny things fade, but love carries across
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The colors of Maya fade away. Lost in doubt, a person falls into the deep, dark pit of attachment.
He is so proud that even the sky cannot hold him, yet his belly is full of waste, bones and worms.
He runs in all ten directions after the great poison of wrongdoing; he grabs what belongs to others, and his own ignorance ruins him.
His youth passes, old age and sickness seize him, death's messengers punish him, and so he dies.
Through countless lives he suffers pain like hell, sinking into a pit of sorrow and blame.
Nanak says: those whom the Saint kindly makes his own are carried across by loving devotion.
The shine of the world fades and a life of grabbing ends in pain, while loving devotion carries a person across.
Maa-i-aa rang birang: the colors of Maya fade. Maya is the pull of the world's shiny things. Koop gubaar: a dark well. Aytaa gab akaas na maavat: so proud the sky cannot hold him. The verse then reminds the proud one what the body is made of.
The middle of the verse has very hard pictures: death's messengers, the pain of hell. They are strong, old ways of saying that a life spent only grabbing ends in sorrow. Paraym bhagat uDhrahi: through loving devotion, people are carried across. Think of a bridge over a wild river; you do not have to swim it alone.
What is something that looked amazing but did not feel as good as you expected once you had it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI