Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Nanak says: when we let ourselves forget the Naam and fill our days with everything else, life can start to scatter, like sand slipping through open fingers.
The habit of forgetting feeds on itself, and leaves us feeling strangely empty — nothing we grabbed onto turns out to hold our weight.
What we forget cannot hold us up. And the door stays open, always, to turn back.
A life built on forgetting the Naam cannot hold its own weight.
A stern shalok of Guru Amar Das. agi-aanee anDhulay — those who do not know, who do not yet see — forget the Naam and busy themselves with everything else. Its pictures are hard: being bound at the door of death, decaying in filth. Underneath them is a plain truth for everyone: whatever we lean on in place of the Naam gives way under us. And the door back is always open.
Have you ever leaned your weight on something — a thing, a want — that turned out not to hold you? What did that teach you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI