Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The world is bound to being born and dying.
The self-willed, half-asleep, is wrapped in the dark of grasping and attachment;
he runs others down and lives in falseness, ending up mired in what is foul, lost in it.
Running other people down is what an ego does when it cannot lift itself up.
The verse describes the manmukh, the person who follows only their own will. Such a person is half asleep, wrapped in the dark of Maya, the pull of things that fade, and of clinging.
One thing stands out. Par nindaa — they speak badly of others. They cannot rise, so they try to pull everyone else down. It is like a player who can't score, so they trip their teammates instead. Nobody wins that way.
The verse uses a blunt, strong picture for where such a life ends up: sinking into something foul and staying stuck there. That is where running others down and living falsely finally lead.
Why do you think people sometimes put others down when they feel low themselves?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI