Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Act out of self-importance, and peace just won't come.
The mind's clever schemes are hollow; only the One is truly real.
Whoever gets lost loving the sense of "me against everything" ends up tangled.
In the end, each of us lives out what is planted deepest in us.
This one says that acting from "me first" never brings peace.
This is the opening of a longer song by Guru Nanak, in eight parts.
Ha-umai kartiaa nah sukh ho-ay — "acting in ego, peace does not come." Haumai is the ego, the feeling that I am separate from everyone and everything.
Manmat jhoothee — "the mind's own schemes are false." Manmat means the plans the mind cooks up on its own. Jhooth here means unreal, not lasting. Only sachaa so-ay, the One, is sach, truly real.
Sagal bigootay bhaavai do-ay — "all who love two-ness end up ruined." Do-ay is two-ness, the sense of "me against everything." It leaves a person tangled.
Think of a group project where one kid insists on doing everything their own way. The work gets knotted, and nobody is happy, least of all that kid.
The last line, Dhur likhi-aa, means "what is written from the start." It points to what is planted deepest in us, the gifts we are given by grace. It is not a scary sense of fate.
When have you noticed that trying hardest to protect "me" actually made you feel more alone?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI