Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You weep for the one who has died, but who hears your weeping? They have already been swept into the deep, frightening ocean of the world.
Gazing at family, wealth, house, and grand rooms, the one cut off from the One gets tangled in worldly business as worthless as straw.
What we hold on to is borrowed, and clinging to it ties us in knots.
Moo-ay ka-o roveh kiseh sunaaveh — you weep for the one who died, but who hears it? Missing someone who has died is natural and loving, and sharing that sadness with people who love you helps. The verse points our eyes somewhere else: crying out cannot call them back, and the same wide ocean, bhai saagar, carries every life. The question turns us back to how we are living now.
Kutamb maa-i-aa garih mandar — family, wealth, household, mansions, all looked at as if they would last forever. A saakat, someone cut off from the Source, gets caught in janjaal paraal, a tangle of worthless straw. It is like a kite string wound around a fence: the more you pull, the tighter the knot.
What would it feel like to enjoy something without gripping it tightly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI