Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is an old story of a mighty royal family, so powerful their parade stretched for miles, always saying 'This is mine! That is mine!'
And yet all that grabbing and boasting could not protect them in the end. Everything they clutched so tightly slipped away. A closed fist keeps nothing.
Grabbing and holding on tight cannot keep anything safe.
Mayree mayree kaira-o kartay durjoDhan say bhaa-ee: the Kauravas, with brothers like Duryodhan, kept saying, "Mine! Mine!" The Kauravas are the royal family in the great old story called the Mahabharata. Baarah jojan chhatar chalai: their royal parade stretched for miles and miles.
Yet all that power ended in loss. Think of squeezing sand in your fist. The tighter you grip, the faster it slips away. The lesson is that grasping cannot hold on. The people of the old story are named with respect, as an example of pride undone.
Have you noticed that holding onto something too tightly can be the very way you lose it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI