ਸਲੋਕ ਮਃ ੩ ॥
salok mehlaa 3.
Shalok, Third Mehl:
ਆਸਾ ਕਰਤਾ ਜਗੁ ਮੁਆ ਆਸਾ ਮਰੈ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥
aasaa kartaa jag mu-aa aasaa marai na jaa-ay.
Building up its hopes, the world dies, but its hopes do not die or depart.
ਨਾਨਕ ਆਸਾ ਪੂਰੀਆ ਸਚੇ ਸਿਉ ਚਿਤੁ ਲਾਇ ॥੧॥
naanak aasaa pooree-aa sachay si-o chit laa-ay. ||1||
O Nanak, hopes are fulfilled only by attaching one's consciousness to the True Lord. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Building up its hopes, the world dies — but the hopes themselves don't die.
Nanak says: hopes are fulfilled only by fastening the mind to the True One.
We spend our lives chasing hopes that outlive us — rest comes not from the next fulfilled wish but from the One where hoping can cease.
A piercing Shalok on hope: people die "but its hopes do not die or depart" — we spend our lives chasing hopes that outlive us, never quite satisfied. The one thing that actually fulfills hope is not getting more of what we hoped for, but "attaching one's consciousness to the True Lord." Endless hoping is a treadmill; rest is found not in the next fulfilled wish but in the One where the hoping can finally cease.
A Question to Sit With
What hope have you been chasing that never quite arrives? What would let the chasing rest?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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