Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Copying what others do out of a stubborn, hardened heart leads nowhere real. It does not bring the Beloved any closer, and it leaves the soul wandering, still searching.
Guru Arjan says that copying others with a stubborn heart does not bring you closer to the Beloved.
Daykhaa daykhee means by imitation, doing what you see others do. Manhath means a stubborn, hardened mind. In the verse, this is how the old custom of self-destruction spread. The lesson reaches much further. Doing something only because others do it, from a hard heart instead of an open one, does not bring union. Pari-a sang na paavai: she does not gain the Beloved's company. The soul that acts from pressure keeps wandering.
Think of a dare at school. Everyone is doing it, so you feel you have to. This is a lesson any child can use: don't do harmful things just because others do. Only a real turning of the heart arrives.
Have you ever done something just because others were doing it? How did it feel afterward?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI