Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Instruct the self-willed manmukh all you like — he still walks off into the wilderness.
Without the Name there is no freeing him; he dies and sinks into hell.
Good advice can't get into a mind that is shut tight.
Manmukh jay samjaa-ee-ai bhee ujharh jaa-ay — even when the manmukh, the person who follows only their own will, is taught, they still wander off into the wild. Every teacher and parent knows this. You can explain something clearly, again and again, with love, and still it does not go in.
The problem was never missing facts. It was a closed heart. Another shabad in this raag uses the picture of a dry stone. Pour water on a stone, and it just runs off.
Bin har naam na chhootsee mar narak samaa-ay — without the Name there is no freedom; such a person dies and sinks into narak, hell. This hell does not need to be a place on a map. A life lost in the wild of its own will, cut off from the Name, is already living it.
When someone gives you good advice you don't want, what happens inside you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI