Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Someone can wear all the right clothes and say all the clever things. Still, their mind can run off in ten directions at once.
When the “me, me” feeling fills you up, the Guru's word can't get through. Then you keep circling back to the same restless place.
Wearing the right clothes can't calm a mind that keeps running off.
Baahar bhaykh bahut chaturaa-ee — on the outside there are religious robes, and plenty of cleverness too. But manoo-aa dah dis dhaavai: the mind runs off in ten directions. Picture a player in a perfect team uniform whose mind is on their phone, the snack stand, and tomorrow's test, all at once.
Ha-umai bi-aapi-aa sabad na cheenhai — filled with ha-umai, the "me, me" feeling, the person does not recognize the sabad, the Guru's Word. Cheenhai means to recognize. When ego fills the room, there is no space left to notice the Word.
So fir fir joonee aavai — they come around again and again, into birth after birth. It is also the loop of restlessness the heart keeps circling back to.
What helps your mind settle when it's running in ten directions?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI