ਭਾਰ ਅਠਾਰਹ ਮਹਿ ਚੰਦਨੁ ਊਤਮ ਚੰਦਨ ਨਿਕਟਿ ਸਭ ਚੰਦਨੁ ਹੁਈਆ ॥
bhaar athaarah meh chandan ootam chandan nikat sabh chandan hu-ee-aa.
Of all plants, the sandalwood tree is the most sublime. Everything near the sandalwood tree becomes fragrant like sandalwood.
ਸਾਕਤ ਕੂੜੇ ਊਭ ਸੁਕ ਹੂਏ ਮਨਿ ਅਭਿਮਾਨੁ ਵਿਛੁੜਿ ਦੂਰਿ ਗਈਆ ॥੨॥
saakat koorhay oobh suk hoo-ay man abhimaan vichhurh door ga-ee-aa. ||2||
The stubborn, false faithless cynics are dried up; their egotistical pride separates them far from the Lord. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Sandalwood is the sweetest of all the trees, and everything growing near it turns fragrant too.
But a heart that shuts love out is like a plant that dries in the sun, cut off from the water it needs. Pride does that -- it doesn't punish us from outside; it just leaves us dry.
*Pride dries the heart; nearness to love keeps it fresh.*
bhaar athaarah -- of all the greenery of the world, the sandalwood is supreme, and it shares itself freely. The contrast is the saakat, dried and separated by abhimaan (pride). The drying is self-caused, an image of how ego isolates rather than a curse imposed.
A Question to Sit With
What helps you when you feel dried out or shut off?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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