Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A heart turned only outward gets caught by the world's pull. It keeps wandering, going and going, and never arrives.
It is burnt up by wanting and stuck in old grooves it made for itself. So it goes round and round, like the ox that walks all day in a circle at the mill. It never reaches anywhere new.
You can move all day and never get anywhere.
The saakat is a person who turns away from the One and lives only for the world's pull. The verse does not treat this person as a villain. It sees a restless heart, burnt by wanting and stuck in old habits. Maa-i-aa (Maya) is that pull of things that shine and then fade.
The picture is taylee balad bhavanday, the ox at the oil mill. It walks in a circle all day and never reaches a new place. Think of scrolling a phone for an hour and ending up right where you started. Moving is not the same as arriving.
When have you been very busy but felt like you were just going in circles?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI