Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Whoever comes into this world and indulges in ego must depart — having gained nothing.
The whole world is a storehouse of lamp-black — soot that covers everything. The body and mind are blackened by it.
Those who are saved by the Guru come out immaculate and pure. Through the Shabad, they extinguish the fire of desire.
Haumai andar aavdaa, haumai andar jaai — whoever comes into the world in ego, departs in ego. The circular trap: arriving driven by ego, living through ego, departing still in ego. Nothing has changed. The entire life has been lived inside haumai — like someone who walked through a beautiful garden but never looked up from their own feet.
Jag saajal nahal ghar, tan man hoai kaajal — the whole world is a storehouse (nahal ghar — a house, a storehouse) of lamp-black (saajal/kaajal — soot, the black residue of burning, also kajal/kohl used as eye makeup). The image is precise and multi-layered: lamp-black is the byproduct of fire and burning; it covers everything in soot; in small amounts it beautifies (as kajal), but in excess it simply blackens and smears. The world's ego-orientation produces lamp-black: it covers body and mind, blackening what was clean.
Gur parsaadee nirmal hoi-aa, sabad aagan bujhaa-i — those saved by the Guru's grace (parsaadee) become immaculate (nirmal — stainless, clean); through the Shabad, they extinguish the fire of desire (aagan — fire). The Shabad doesn't just clean the lamp-black; it extinguishes the fire that produces it. The desire-fire (trishna, the haumai-fire) is put out — and then the soot stops accumulating.
What is something in your life that is gradually covering you in soot — something that you know is dimming your light — and what would it take to extinguish it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI