Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You are steady and strong forever, and I come with open, empty hands.
When I get pulled toward shiny, fading things, I ask You to help me.
Tangled up in wanting and clinging, I've slipped up plenty.
We each live with what our choices grow into — that's just how it works.
Be gentle with me, You who makes tired hearts clean; I'm worn out from wandering.
"I'm Yours," my heart says, "and You're the ground I stand on and the breath I breathe."
The verse is an honest confession rendered without shame. "I am a mere beggar" (mangan) is the posture of open, empty hands — not worthlessness but honesty about needing help. The tangle of "greed, attachment and corruption" is named plainly, and the law of consequence appears again gently: "one obtains the fruits of his own actions" (karma as natural outcome, not punishment). The theologically rich line — the Creator is "both attached and detached from entanglements" — means the One is fully present in the world yet never trapped by it (the lotus again): a model for how we too might live in the tangle without being ruled by it. The verse ends in trust: "You are the Support of my soul and my breath of life." For a child: coming with open, honest hands and admitting you need help is not weakness — it's the beginning of being helped.
Why is it sometimes hard to admit you need help — and what happens when you finally do?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI