A life spent chasing mirages leaves the heart still thirsty; but the sinking are lifted into good company.
The Arc
The verse diagnoses a life spent taking what isn't one's own, grabbing, bending truth, tearing others down — hopes pinned on shimmering mirages believed sweet. The Rahao and close sharpen the picture: such a life slips past emptily, like a mouse gnawing a whole stack of paper without a bite to eat; and then rises to a prayer — be kind, loosen these tangles — answered by the One lifting the sinking and setting them down safe in the company of the good.
Key Vocabulary
marig trisnaa: the deer's thirst, the mirage
aas mithi-aa meethee: false hopes believed sweet
saakat kee aavradaa jaa-ay barithaaree: a life turned away passes emptily
jaisay kaagad kay bhaar moosaa: like a mouse in a pile of paper
saaDh janaa sangaaree: united with the company of the good
Themes and Cross-Connections
The marig trisnaa, mirage-thirst, is Gurbani's precise image for chasing jhooth, the unreal that looks sweet and washes off (philosophy.md, Sach). The whole verse tilts toward hope: the saakat is not condemned but mirrored — anyone can lose seasons this way — and the close is rescue, the sinking lifted into good company, keeping Guru Arjan's steady faith that no one is beyond being drawn back.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
The raag of longing here exposes a false longing — the thirst that runs toward mirage — and points the ache toward water that is actually there.
Translation Notes
Saakat, the one turned from the One, is rendered as 'a life cut off from the One' with self-mirroring rather than contempt, and the literal 'poor wretch' is dropped, per the project's influence-wisdom-not-contempt handling of saakat verses and its gentle-self-address rule.
A life spent chasing mirages leaves the heart still thirsty; but the sinking are lifted into good company.
The Arc
The verse diagnoses a life spent taking what isn't one's own, grabbing, bending truth, tearing others down — hopes pinned on shimmering mirages believed sweet. The Rahao and close sharpen the picture: such a life slips past emptily, like a mouse gnawing a whole stack of paper without a bite to eat; and then rises to a prayer — be kind, loosen these tangles — answered by the One lifting the sinking and setting them down safe in the company of the good.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The marig trisnaa, mirage-thirst, is Gurbani's precise image for chasing jhooth, the unreal that looks sweet and washes off (philosophy.md, Sach). The whole verse tilts toward hope: the saakat is not condemned but mirrored — anyone can lose seasons this way — and the close is rescue, the sinking lifted into good company, keeping Guru Arjan's steady faith that no one is beyond being drawn back.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
The raag of longing here exposes a false longing — the thirst that runs toward mirage — and points the ache toward water that is actually there.
Translation Notes
Saakat, the one turned from the One, is rendered as 'a life cut off from the One' with self-mirroring rather than contempt, and the literal 'poor wretch' is dropped, per the project's influence-wisdom-not-contempt handling of saakat verses and its gentle-self-address rule.