Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
It never does anything kind for anyone else. It won't sit with a teacher or a truer way of seeing.
Instead it keeps company with the five troublemakers inside: wanting, anger, greed, clinging, and pride. It stays a little drunk on the glitter of the world.
This one is about the troublemakers we keep as company, and the glitter that makes us dizzy.
Panch doot means the five demons — five troublemakers. They are the inner pulls that can tear a life apart: lust, anger, greed, clinging, and pride. The verse says the mind sits with them, chats with them, and takes their advice.
Then Guru Arjan calls the world's glitter a wine. Matvaaro mad maa-i-o — drunk on the wine of maya, the world's shine. It works the way a drink does. It blurs your clear seeing. It makes fading things look like they will last. It makes bad company feel like good company. Think of scrolling your phone late at night. It feels great in the moment, and you don't notice how foggy you're getting.
The point isn't to hate yourself. It's to wake up. You can't leave a party you don't know you're at.
When have you noticed that being 'caught up' in something made it harder to think clearly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI