Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You could have thousands of good things and live a very long time, and still, every pleasant thing eventually changes or ends, and letting go of it can sting. Even if you ate only sweets for a hundred years, a bitter taste would come someday too.
The sweet and the bitter are both a kind of sickness. Nanak says that living only for pleasures leaves you worn out in the end. Endless worrying and struggling only tire you. Peace comes from resting in something steadier than either one, something that does not change when the flavors do.
The sweet and the bitter both toss the heart around; peace is steadier than both.
Mithaa kaurhaa dovai rog — the sweet and the bitter are both an illness. Holding on to pleasure and dreading pain keep the heart on a swing. Jhakh jhakh jhakhnaa jhagrhaa jhaakh — worry and quarrel go round and round and wear people out. Sikhs call the steady place beneath all of it sahaj, a calm that stays the same whatever the day tastes like.
What is something steady inside you that doesn't change when things get sweet or bitter?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI