Family Is a Gift to Love, Not a Net to Be Lost In

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

This one starts the list of nets with family, the place every life begins.

BanDhan maat pitaa sansaar — people are tied up with mother, father, and the world. BanDhan sut kanniaa ar naar — and with sons, daughters, and spouses. The hymn calls this tangle janjaal, a net or snare.

Family itself is not the problem. The Gurus taught the householder path, called Grihast, and lived it. They raised children and kept homes. The net is moha, clinging. It treats people as things we own, instead of gifts we love.

Think of holding sand. In an open hand, it rests there. Squeeze it, and it runs out between your fingers. Elsewhere in Aasaa the same teaching appears: let go of the grip, not the love. The love is the point. The grip is the net.