ਨਦੀ ਉਪਕੰਠਿ ਜੈਸੇ ਘਰੁ ਤਰਵਰੁ ਸਰਪਨਿ ਘਰੁ ਘਰ ਮਾਹੀ ॥
nadee upkhanth jaisay ghar tarvar sarpan ghar ghar maahee.
It is like a tree-house near the bank of a river, with a serpent's den in that house.
ਉਲਟੀ ਨਦੀ ਕਹਾਂ ਘਰੁ ਤਰਵਰੁ ਸਰਪਨਿ ਡਸੈ ਦੂਜਾ ਮਨ ਮਾਂਹੀ ॥੫॥
ultee nadee kahaaN ghar tarvar sarpan dasai doojaa man maaNhee. ||5||
When the river overflows, what happens to the tree house? The snake bites, like duality in the mind. ||5||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
It is like a house in a tree on a riverbank, with a snake's den inside the house.
When the river floods, what happens to the tree house? The snake bites, like the split in a mind pulled two ways.
A whole heart is steadier ground than a house on a flooding bank.
A life resting on what passes, with a divided heart inside, is like a tree house by a flooding river with a snake in it.
The river is how everything passes. The snake is doojaa, duality, the heart pulled between "me and mine" and everything else. Its bite is the hurt of a split heart. Malaar's answer is a heart made whole.
A Question to Sit With
When have you felt pulled two different ways inside at the same time?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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