Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Pulled along by the five thieves inside, people do wrong.
They bathe at holy places and say, "It has all washed off."
Then they do it all again, without a care.
Those wrongdoers are tied up and taken to the City of Death.
A bath at a holy place leaves the heart just as it was.
The verse shows a loop. Someone does wrong, pulled by the five inner thieves: desire, anger, greed, clinging and ego. Then tirath naa-ay kaheh sabh utray: they bathe at a holy place and say it has all washed off. Then bahur kamaaveh ho-ay nisank: they do it all again, without a worry.
It is like saying sorry and then doing the same thing again right away. The sorry was only on the outside. The verse ends with a hard picture: the wrongdoers are bound and taken to the City of Death. The point is that what we do stays with us. Washing the outside never cleans the heart.
What is a habit you keep repeating and then apologizing for?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI