Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The desire for more — and the emotional pull of attachment — enchants the mind. Children, family, home, spouse — all become part of the trap.
Wealth and youth, greed and ego, deceive and rob the world of what it came for.
This drug of attachment has destroyed me, as it has destroyed the whole world. I am lost in it.
Trishna Maya mohni — trishna (craving, thirst, desire — the unslakeable wanting) and Maya (the world of appearances) are called mohni: the enchantress, the bewitcher. Maya enchants, and trishna is the drug it uses. Children, family, household, spouse — these are not presented as bad things. They are the mechanism by which craving binds the soul. Not that family is the enemy — but that the attachment to family, the craving for the security and identity they provide, keeps the soul from finding the deeper connection it is actually hungry for.
Moh thag-ulee ha-o mu-ee — the drug of emotional attachment (moh: possessive love, emotional entanglement) has destroyed me. Thag-ulee literally means "the drug of the con artist" — the intoxicant administered by the thief to make you senseless and rob you. This is what moh does: it makes the soul senseless, unable to see clearly, unable to find the Guru, robbed of the wisdom it was born with.
The first-person confession — ha-o mu-ee (I am destroyed by it) — is notable. The teacher is not positioning himself above the teaching. He is in it. This drug has affected him too. And it has affected the whole world (saa vartai sansaar — it prevails throughout the world). Universal condition, not individual failure.
What is the specific thing in your life — the thing you keep reaching for that promises satisfaction but leaves you wanting more?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI