Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Sometimes desire, anger, and hunger for more get tangled up in me until I feel bound by them. And all the while, the Judge of what is right is standing right over my head, seeing it all.
When I chase what only looks sweet — grabbing, resenting, always wanting — I end up swallowing something that tastes good but leaves me empty. Calling a thing sweet doesn't make it good for me.
Some things taste sweet but are bad for us, and this verse says we swallow them anyway.
The verse names three pulls: kaam, strong craving; krodh, anger; and asnayh, clinging attachment. They tie the body down like ropes. Then it pictures Dharam Raa-ay, the Judge of what is right, standing right over our heads. You can think of him as the honest record of how we live. He is not a monster waiting to punish. He is more like reality itself, quietly weighing every choice we make.
The line a child can hold best is meethee kar kar bikhi-aa khaa-ay — "calling it sweet, they eat poison." Think of a candy bar that looks amazing. Eat ten of them and you feel awful.
That is how haumai works. Haumai is the ego, the feeling of being a separate self that always wants more. It keeps mistaking what hurts it for what feeds it.
When has something that looked sweet left you feeling worse afterward?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI