Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Without the Guru, you wander, coming and going, round and round.
Without the Guru, your hard work does not count for anything.
Without the Guru, the mind rocks and will not hold still.
Without the Guru, you are never satisfied, and you keep eating what poisons you.
Without the Guru, the snake of Maya (the shine of the world that pulls you away from the One) bites you, and you die along the road.
Nanak says: without the Guru, everything is lost.
Without the Guru, life becomes a string of losses: wandering, wasted effort, a shaking mind, and a hunger that poison cannot fill.
Six lines, each with bin gur, without the Guru, beat like a drum. Bisee-ar, the poisonous snake, is Maya, the glitter of the world that bites when you grab it. Ghaatay ghaat means loss upon loss. The warning is strong because the gift it points to is great: the next verse shows the Guru turning each of these losses around.
Who has been a guide for you when you felt lost?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI