Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Worldly things flash and are gone, like a bolt of lightning lighting up the sky for a heartbeat.
The one thing truly worth having is whatever turns your heart toward the Name of the One.
The image is precise: daamnee chamatkaar — a lightning flash. It is dazzling and completely real for the instant it lasts, and then it is simply gone. That is how the Shalok describes jag khay, the world's affairs — not evil, just fleeting. Against that flash it sets one lasting thing, vath suhaavee — the "pleasing possession": whatever draws you toward the Name. Notice the teaching isn't "the world is bad." It is a matter of proportion — don't build your whole life on something that lasts a flash. The lightning is beautiful; just don't try to live inside it.
What is something you were once desperate to have that you've completely forgotten now? What does that tell you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI