Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Power, money, all kinds of fun and pleasure — they're real, but they're like the shade of a tree that moves on.
A person can run and run and run in every direction chasing them, and still come up empty.
"The shadow of a tree" (chhaa-i-aa) is exact: a tree's shade is genuinely cool and pleasant — and it shifts as the sun moves; you can never nail it down or keep it. Guru Arjan isn't calling pleasures evil; he's calling them unstayable. The tragedy is only in the chasing — "runs, runs, runs" — trying to make permanent what is built to move. Enjoy the shade; just don't build your house on where it happens to be right now.
What's something you enjoyed that you couldn't hold onto no matter how hard you tried? Was chasing it worth it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI