ਜਿਸੁ ਪਾਹਣ ਕਉ ਠਾਕੁਰੁ ਕਹਤਾ ॥
jis paahan ka-o thaakur kahtaa.
That stone, which he calls his god,
ਓਹੁ ਪਾਹਣੁ ਲੈ ਉਸ ਕਉ ਡੁਬਤਾ ॥੨॥
oh paahan lai us ka-o dubtaa. ||2||
that stone pulls him down and drowns him. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The very object someone leans on as if it were everything
can turn out to be a weight that only pulls them down.
Leaning your whole weight on a mere object cannot hold you up.
jis paahan ka-o thaakur kahtaa / oh paahan lai us ka-o dubtaa — the stone one calls god becomes a stone that sinks. Kept gentle: the image warns that leaning our whole weight on a mere thing cannot hold us up. The critique is of misplaced trust, not of any people who honor it.
A Question to Sit With
What is something people treat as everything that cannot really carry them?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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