Salok Vaaraan Te Vadheek (Mehl 3), Salok 67 — the boat across
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Attachment to Maya — the pull of the world — is an ocean of pain and poison, so rough it cannot be crossed.
Shouting "mine, mine," people wear themselves out and die; their lives pass in ego.
The manmukhs — those who follow only their own wants — reach neither this shore nor the other; they stay caught in the middle.
They do what was written for them from the start; they can do nothing else.
Through the Guru's teaching, the jewel of wisdom comes to live in the mind, and then the One is easily seen in everything.
Nanak says: the very fortunate climb aboard the boat of the True Guru, and it carries them across the frightening world-ocean.
Clinging to things is like a rough sea. The Guru's teaching is the boat.
maa-i-aa moh dukh saagar hai — clinging to Maya, money and things, is an ocean of pain. It is too hard to swim across. People keep shouting "mine, mine," and wear themselves out in pride. The manmukhs, those who follow only their own wants, get stuck in the middle, on neither shore. They act as they were shaped to act.
Then comes the turn. Through the Guru's teaching, the jewel of wisdom settles in the mind. sabh daykhi-aa barahm subhaa-ay — then the One is easily seen in everyone.
Think of a lake too wide to swim. You would get tired and stuck. But a boat carries you across with ease. satgur bohithai — the True Guru is that boat. The lucky ones climb aboard. They are carried over the wide, scary sea of the world.
When have you felt tossed around, and what helped carry you through?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI