Chasing Passing Things Stays Dim, the Light Waits to Be Turned Toward
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Those who never come to know the deep song move through life without really hearing or seeing what matters.
They don't taste the sweetness of the One, and a whole life can slip by, going round and round.
A life spent only chasing the small and the passing stays stuck and dim — but the light of the teaching is always there to be turned toward.
The middle pauri is the shabad's one sharp stretch — and needs careful handling. The literal calls those without the shabad "blind and deaf" and, most difficultly, "maggots in manure." Per the wellbeing rules, the degrading bistaa kay keerhay (worms-in-filth) imagery is dropped entirely; kept instead is the gentler, truer teaching: a life spent only on the small and passing stays "stuck and dim." And crucially the project's hope is added at the close of the pauri — the light is always there to be turned toward — so the verse never leaves a person condemned. Missing the sweetness is a loss, not a life-sentence.
What is something small you sometimes chase that leaves you feeling a bit empty?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI