Salok Vaaraan Te Vadheek (Mehl 3), Salok 50 — Robes of Desire and Anger
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Everyone has come here wearing a robe of selfish desire and anger around their neck.
Some are born and some pass away; they come and go in the flow of life, the One's command.
Their coming and going, birth and death, does not end, because they are colored by love of "the other" — everything besides the One.
Tied in bonds, they are made to wander around, and they can do nothing about it.
Desire, anger and love of "the other" wrap around a person like a robe and keep them circling.
Kaam krodh kaa cholrhaa: a little robe of selfish desire and anger, which everyone comes wearing. Hukmay aavai jaa-ay: people come and go within the hukam, the flow of existence.
Rang lagaa doojai bhaa-ay: the mind is dyed in doojai bhaa-ay, love of the other, everything except the One. So the round of birth and death does not stop. The last line is plain: tied in these bonds, a person cannot free themselves by their own effort. Many other saloks in this collection speak of the Guru's Word as the way out.
What is a habit that feels like it wears you, more than you wear it, and what might loosen it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI