Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A confused mind will gulp down what harms it and call the truly nourishing Name bitter, pushing it away.
It stays far from the good company that could help, and just keeps wandering, lost, from one thing to the next, never arriving.
This one keeps describing the confused mind: it takes in what hurts it and pushes away what heals it.
jo halaahal so peevai ba-uraa — the confused one drinks poison. Ba-uraa means someone whose mind is mixed up. amrit naam jaanai kar ka-uraa — and the Name, which is amrit, life-giving nectar, tastes bitter to them.
Think of a child who spits out the medicine but grabs the candy that makes the tummy hurt. The taste fools them.
This mind also stays far from the saaDhsang, the company of good people who could help. So it wanders. The verse says it roams through lakh cha-oraaseeh, 8.4 million forms of life. That huge number pictures a restless wandering that never seems to arrive anywhere.
When you're worn out, what unhelpful thing do you reach for instead of what would actually help?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI