Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
My foolish mind still hasn't reformed, though I've grown tired of instructing it.
Nanak says: singing the songs of the One, a person crosses the frightening sea.
This line says that what lecturing your mind can't do, singing can.
Man moorakh ajhoo nah samjhat — my foolish mind still doesn't understand. Sikh dai haari-o neet — I am tired of teaching it every day. Guru Tegh Bahadur speaks honestly about this struggle in other hymns too.
But it does not end in giving up. It ends with what works. Naanak bha-ojal paar parai ja-o gaavai parabh kay geet — Nanak says, you cross the scary ocean of life by singing the songs of the One.
Think of a kid who won't settle down at bedtime, no matter how many times they are told. Then a parent sings a soft song, and the child drifts off to sleep. You don't cross by finally winning the argument with your mind. You cross by singing, and you are carried.
When instructing yourself hasn't worked, what would 'singing' — filling the space with the good — do instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI