Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
It doesn't warm to what's truly beautiful. It can't find real contentment.
It keeps circling the same fading things, going and going in every direction. It is like an ox tied to an oil press. The ox walks all day and never really goes anywhere.
This one is about being busy and getting nowhere. The picture is an ox at an oil press.
Ji-o taylee balad bharmaa-i-o — like the oil-maker's ox, going round and round. In old villages, an ox was tied to a big wooden press. It walked in a small circle all day, often with its eyes covered, turning the press. It may have felt like it was traveling. But at night it was right where it started. It's like running on a treadmill: lots of sweat, same spot.
The Gurus use this picture often. It shows a life full of motion but with no real movement. The answer isn't to stop moving. It's to be untied from the circle, so the walking finally leads somewhere good.
Can you think of a time you were really busy but, looking back, weren't actually getting anywhere?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI