Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is a king in the old tales whose whole city was made of gold, with mighty elephants standing guard at his gates. Who could be greater?
Yet in a single instant, all of it belonged to someone else. The gold, the guards, the glory — here one moment, gone the next. Whatever you pile up is only yours for a while.
Everything we pile up is only borrowed for a while.
Sarab so-in kee lankaa hotee: Lanka was a city made all of gold. Raavan say aDhikaa-ee: was anyone greater than Raavan, its king in the old story of the Ramayana? Elephants stood tied at his gates.
Kahaa bha-i-o: what happened to it all? Khin meh bha-ee paraa-ee: in an instant, it all belonged to someone else. Think of a snow sculpture. One warm afternoon, and it is gone. Namdev stacks one example on another to make the point clear. Raavan is named here as an example, not as a villain.
If nothing can be locked down forever, what's worth putting your heart into?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI