Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The tricky feeling of 'me first, me best' can quietly cloud our clear thinking.
It makes us look for ourselves out in shiny things, instead of finding what's already deep inside.
The verse names the core ailment: ha-umai — ego, the me-first feeling — as a great disease (rog) that cheats you of your own intellect. Note the framing (Mehl 3's favorite): ego is an illness, not a crime — something to be healed, not something that makes you bad. Its symptom is looking for yourself in the wrong place — maa-i-aa kaaran — chasing shiny outer things while not recognizing God within. The cure the poem builds toward is simply turning the gaze inward, to the treasure that was always there.
When has wanting to be first or best made it harder to see clearly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI