Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Pouring all your effort into what pulls you away from your own heart is like leaving home to work in a stranger's far-off land, and leaving your treasure behind.
Living only for what glitters never brought anyone real peace — greed and grasping keep the heart hungry.
Tangled in grasping and led astray by confusion, how could peace arrive? Working for what is not truly yours is wearing and painful; a person can sell themselves short and lose their footing.
Chasing shiny things never lets the heart settle — moment by moment it aches. That ache eases the moment you turn your attention back to the word of the teaching.
Spending your whole life chasing shiny things is tiring, and it leaves your real home empty.
The main picture is vidaanee chaakree, working for strangers. Living only for maya, the glittering, passing surface of things, is like being a hired worker in a far-off country while your own home sits empty. The dhan left behind, the bride or the treasure, stands for your own inner life.
This is not against work or against the world. It is about where you give your deepest loyalty. Bikhi-aa lobh, grasping and greed, is named as the cause of the restlessness. Khin khin dukh santaa-ay — moment by moment, it aches. Think of a phone game that always wants one more level. You play and play, and you never feel finished.
But the cure is close at hand. Taday chookai jaa gur sabdee chit laa-ay — the ache lifts the moment your attention turns back to the Guru's word. That is hope, not doom.
When have you worked really hard for something shiny, only to feel emptier afterward?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI