Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Think of all the things we pin our hopes on that end up letting us down.
The mind can get swept up by a great charmer — the pull of shiny things — and led far from what is real.
Hopes placed in the wrong things let us down. Kavan kavan nahee patri-aa tumree parteet — who has not stumbled by trusting you? Nearly everyone has been tripped by hope placed in the wrong thing.
Mahaa mohnee mohi-aa — the great charmer has charmed them. The great charmer is Maya, the pull of the world's shiny things.
Think of a flashy ad that promises the one thing that will make you happy. You get it, and a week later it is just another thing. The verse calls this narak kee reet, the road to misery, because it leads far from what is real. The shabad opens by naming what keeps letting us down.
What is something shiny that pulled you in and then let you down?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI