Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
This mind gets dirty when it doesn't keep the One in view. Deep inside, the grime builds up from loving "the second thing" — chasing what's separate from the One. A proud person can travel to every holy river, every famous shrine, every faraway land — and still come home with even more of the dirt of ego than they left with.
This verse says the dirt that matters is inside us, so no outside trip can wash it off by itself.
Antar mail laagee baho doojai bhaa-ay — deep inside, the mind is stained by doojai bhaa-ay, "love of the second." That means feeling that something apart from the One is worth chasing. Guru Amar Das names this as the root trouble. The dirt is not ordinary mistakes. It is the feeling of being separate: a "me" over here, and a world of things over there to grab. Every grab leaves a smudge.
Then the verse speaks of tirath, trips to holy rivers and sacred places. Tat tirath disantar bhavai — a proud person may travel to riverbanks, shrines and far lands. And hor vaDhayrai ha-umai mal laavani-aa — they gather even more dirt of ha-umai, the big "me." How can a holy trip leave someone dirtier? Because the word here is proud. If the trip is done to show off — "Look how many holy places I have been to" — it becomes one more trophy for the ego. It is like collecting medals you never earned. The shelf gets fuller, but you have not changed.
The verse is not aimed at any place or any people who travel to them with a humble heart. It is aimed at pride. The stain is antar, inside, so a proud outer trip cannot reach it. Someone could bathe in every river on earth and stay just as stained, because the stain is not on the skin. It is in the feeling of being separate. The next verse shows where the real cleaning happens.
Have you ever done a "good" thing mostly so others would see how good you are — and how did that feel inside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI