Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
If you churn plain water all day hoping for butter, nothing comes. You need the cream.
When my life is guided by the Guru's teaching, I churn the cream, and out comes the treasure of the Naam. Those who follow only their own mind never see the treasure hidden inside them.
A kitchen picture: butter comes from churning cream. Jal bilovai jal mathai: someone churns plain water, hoping for butter. Nothing comes, no matter how hard they work.
Gurmatee daDh mathee-ai: with the Guru's teaching, you churn the real cream. Then you get amrit, the sweet treasure of the Name. Effort on the wrong thing brings nothing. Guided effort brings the real prize.
The manmukh is someone who follows only their own mind. The verse compares such a person to an animal that lives by instinct alone. The point is not to scold. They simply have not yet noticed the tat, the real treasure, already inside them.
Have you ever worked hard at the wrong thing, then found the right way?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI