Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In the next age, goodness stood a little less steady, like a gentle creature that once had four strong legs and now stood on three.
A feeling of being split off began to creep in.
Still, those who listened to the teaching kept speaking truth, while those who turned only to themselves lost their way.
Old Indian stories divide time into four long ages. The second is Traytaa, the Silver Age. Goodness, called Dharma (right living), is pictured as a gentle animal standing on four strong legs. In the Silver Age it lost one leg and stood on three.
Dubidhaa means duality, the feeling of being split between two ways. That split is what cut off the fourth leg. Think of a table that loses a leg. It still stands, but it starts to wobble.
Then the verse names two kinds of people. The gurmukh follows the Guru and keeps speaking truth. The manmukh follows only their own mind and wastes away. They are not cursed. They have simply lost their way.
What helps goodness stay steady even when it gets harder to hold?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI