Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Turning against the Guru and tearing the Guru down makes life harder for the one who does it.
They cry out but feel unheard, sinking into their own trouble and grief.
They lose their footing in both this world and the next — all their gain and even their starting-place slips away.
Day after day they yoke themselves to burdens, like an ox pressed round and round at a mill by their own doing.
The One sees and hears everything, always; nothing can be hidden from it.
Whatever you plant is what you harvest, from whatever seeds you've sown before.
But whoever is touched by grace comes to honor the Guru with a whole heart.
And they are carried across in the Guru's boat — the way heavy iron is ferried across water lashed to a raft of wood.
Nanak says: hold the Name in mind; keeping the One in your heart, peace comes.
Tearing down what is good makes life harder for the one who does it, but grace can carry anyone across, the way wood carries iron over water.
This Shalok by Guru Ram Das is about the trouble people make for themselves when they turn against the teaching. It opens with a hard picture, a deep well of pain. The truth underneath is this: ill-will makes life harder for the one who carries it. They feel unheard.
They are like an ox at an oil-press, walking round and round every day. Jaisaa beejay so lunai: as you plant, so you harvest.
The best part is the ending. Jio lohaa kaath sangoi-aa: like iron tied to wood. Iron on its own sinks straight to the bottom. Tie it to a wooden raft, and it floats across. A heart too heavy to cross by itself is carried by the teaching.
So the verse moves from trouble we make ourselves, straight to rescue and peace. If someone is being unkind to you or hurting you, that is never something you have to accept. Telling a grown-up you trust is always the right thing to do.
What does it mean to let yourself be "carried" by something bigger than you, instead of trying to make it across all on your own?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI