ਕਾਇਆ ਕਮਲੀ ਹੰਸੁ ਇਆਣਾ ਮੇਰੀ ਮੇਰੀ ਕਰਤ ਬਿਹਾਣੀਤਾ ॥
kaa-i-aa kamlee hans i-aanaa mayree mayree karat bihaaneetaa.
The body is wild, and the mind is foolish. Practicing egotism, selfishness and conceit, your life is passing away.
ਪ੍ਰਣਵਤਿ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਨਾਗੀ ਦਾਝੈ ਫਿਰਿ ਪਾਛੈ ਪਛੁਤਾਣੀਤਾ ॥੪॥੩॥੧੫॥
paranvat naanak naagee daajhai fir paachhai pachhutaaneetaa. ||4||3||15||
Prays Nanak, when the naked body is cremated, then you will come to regret and repent. ||4||3||15||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The body runs wild, the mind plays the fool, and busy with ego and self the whole life slips by. And when at last the bare body is burned, then comes the regret -- too late.
A life run by ego slips away -- and regret at the end comes too late to spend.
The blunt close: an ungoverned body and foolish mind, ruled by ego, waste the rare chance. The image of the naked body cremated is Nanak's honest reminder of death -- not to frighten for its own sake but to provoke the turn now, before regret. The pretending Yogi and the distracted householder face the same reckoning.
A Question to Sit With
What is one thing you would not want to look back on with regret?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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