Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The dogs of greed are with me. They are always hungry and never full.
In the early morning, they bark at the wind. Lies are my knife. By cheating, I eat the flesh of the dead.
I live as a wild hunter, O Creator!
Here Guru Nanak speaks as if he were the one who has gone wrong. He isn't pointing at anyone else. He is naming the bad habits any of us can carry.
Ayk su-aan du-ay su-aanee naal means "one dog, and two more dogs with it." These dogs are greed and the wants that follow it around. Bhalkay bha-ukahi sadaa ba-i-aal — every morning they bark at the wind. That is true of real dogs, which bark at every passing shadow. It is also true of a greedy mind. It jumps at every little thing, worried and restless, with no real aim.
Then comes the refrain: dhaanak roop rahaa kartaar, "I live as a wild hunter, O Creator." A wild hunter roams with no rules. He takes what isn't his. He lives by grabbing, not by growing things with care.
Picture writing down, in your own notebook, "Here is what I did wrong," with no "but." Saying your own faults plainly, in your own voice, with no excuse, is itself a way of letting them go.
If you had to confess, in the first person, your three most persistent bad habits — not to anyone, just to yourself — what would they be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI