Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Imagine pushing away something sweet and healing. Instead, you choose to carry a heavy, smelly load. We do that when we trade what is good for us for what weighs us down.
It is like walking in clean clothes and stepping into a pit of coal dust. Then you have to brush yourself off over and over.
Sometimes we push away what is good for us and carry what weighs us down instead.
The verse gives two pictures. First, a person carries a load of smelly sulfur on their head. At the same time, they push amrit, the sweet nectar, out of their mind. They trade what heals for what harms.
Second, someone in clean clothes falls into a pit of coal dust. They brush it off, bahur bahur, again and again.
That repeating is what a habit is. Think of eating chips while doing homework and wiping greasy fingers on the page every time. The mess keeps coming back until the habit changes.
The kindness of this verse is that it names the pattern. Once you can see it, you can change it.
What is a small habit you would like to gently step around next time?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI