Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Stuck to Maya, the glitter of the world, the whole world is muddled and loses its way.
The One who leads astray has led each person astray, and now they are wrapped up in empty, useless busywork.
Stuck to glitter, you lose your way in empty busywork.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad.
Maa-i-aa is the shiny surface of the world, the things that glitter and do not last. Stuck to it, the whole world gets muddled and loses its way.
The verse says the One lets us wander off like this. Think of it as the pull of illusion, like a magic show that grabs your eyes. Then we sink into birthaa bi-uhaar, empty busywork. Think of scrolling a phone for an hour and not remembering one thing you saw. That busywork crowds out what counts.
What "busy but empty" thing eats more of your time than you would like?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI