Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
If I had a palace made of pearls, set with jewels,
sweet with musk, saffron and sandalwood, a joy to look at,
seeing all this, I might lose my way and forget You. Your Name would not come into my mind.
This line says: even the most beautiful home in the world could make me forget You.
This is the first shabad of Siree Raag, where the main body of the Guru Granth Sahib begins. Guru Nanak starts with a "what if" game.
Motee ta mandar oosreh: what if a palace were built of motee, pearls? Ratnee ta hohi jarhaa-o: set all over with ratan, jewels? Kastoor kungoo agar chandan: scented with musk, saffron and sandalwood, a delight to see?
Then the honest answer. Mat daykh bhoolaa veesrai: seeing all this, I might lose my way and forget You. Tayraa chit na aavai naa-o: Your Name would not come into my mind.
Guru Nanak is not saying he is good and others are not. He is just being truthful about how people work. Beautiful things pull our attention.
Beauty is not bad. The palace is not evil. The danger is the forgetting that can sneak in with it. Think of a brand-new video game. It is fun. But it can swallow a whole afternoon, and you forget to call your grandma. The game was not the problem. The forgetting was.
Has there ever been a time when getting something you really wanted actually made you less happy, or less focused on what matters? What happened?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI