Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Why are you so thrilled by the sight of your son and your beautifully decorated wife?
You enjoy tasty food, lots of fun, and endless pleasures. You give commands and act superior.
And yet the Creator never comes into the mind of the blind, idiotic, self-willed person.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji (1563–1606) is the Fifth Guru. He compiled the Adi Granth (the original Guru Granth Sahib) in 1604, completing the monumental task begun by Guru Nanak. He built the Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar on the pool his father Guru Ram Das had established. He was martyred in 1606 by the Mughal emperor Jahangir, becoming the first Sikh Guru to die as a martyr — a defining moment in Sikh identity.
His Siree Raag compositions open with a directness that is characteristic: sharp questions, immediate confrontations with what the listener takes for granted. "Why are you so thrilled?" — kiaa garvahi — the thrilling itself is questioned, not the things you are thrilled about.
The andhe (blind), murakh (idiotic), manmukh (self-willed) — Guru Arjan does not soften the diagnosis. The Creator does not enter the mind that is occupied entirely with ego-pleasures. Not because the Creator refuses, but because the occupied mind has no space.
Is there anything in your life that, when you're honest, you know is preventing you from being present to what actually matters most? What is taking up the space?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI