Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Everything I can see with my eyes will one day pass. It goes the way a cloud's shadow slides across a field and is gone.
The one who truly understands this stops chasing shadows. They come to rest in the shelter of the One — safe, steady, at home.
Seeing that everything passes frees you to rest in what does not.
Jo deesai so sagal binaasai — all that is seen will pass away. This is not a sad line. It is a clear one. Ji-o baadar kee chhaa-ee — like the shadow of a cloud. Gurbani loves this picture. A cloud's shadow is lovely and always moving, and no one can grab it.
Then the turn toward shelter. Jan naanak jag jaani-o mithi-aa rahi-o raam sarnaa-ee — whoever knows the world is mithi-aa, unreal and passing, rests in the shelter of the One. It is like a child at the beach who stops chasing the waves and sits on a big, warm rock.
Knowing that things pass is not meant to make you sad. It is meant to free you to lean on what never passes.
If you knew a shadow would move on soon, would you try to hold it still, or would you enjoy it and let it go?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI