Salok Vaaraan Te Vadheek (Mehl 4), Salok 123 — what is false turns to dust
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Those who follow only their own mind cling to Maya, the pull of the world; they do not love the Naam.
They do what is false, they gather what is false, and they live on what is false.
They pile up the poison-wealth of Maya and die, and in the end it all turns to dust.
They do rituals, good deeds, purity and self-control, but inside they are full of greed and wrong desires.
Nanak says: what those who follow only their own mind do is not accepted; at the Court they are miserable.
A life spent gathering what is false, without love for the Naam, ends in dust.
Koorh is the false, what passes; its pair is sach, the true, what lasts. Bikh maa-i-aa dhan is wealth that turns to poison when the heart clings to it. Ant ho-ay sabh chhaar: in the end it all becomes dust — a hard, plain picture of how passing things pass.
Karam dharam such sanjam — rituals and careful practices — do not help while lobh, greed, rules inside. Such a life is khu-aar, miserable, at the Court.
What is something that seemed important once but faded quickly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI