Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The animals and birds frolic and play — they do not see death.
Mankind is also caught in the net of Maya alongside them, also not seeing.
Those who always remember the Naam, the Name of the Lord, are considered to be liberated.
The comparison to animals and birds is not contemptuous — it is honest. The animals frolic without awareness of death. This is natural for them; they are not equipped for the contemplation of mortality. But humans are supposed to be different.
Maya jaal (the net of Maya) — mankind is caught in the same net. The play and frolic that distracts humans from the awareness of death is structurally identical to the animal condition. The one difference: humans can remember the Naam. The animals cannot. This capacity is what makes the human birth precious — and its neglect all the more significant.
Those who always remember the Naam are called jivanmukt — liberated while living.
Do you think about your own death? Not morbidly, but honestly — the fact that you will die. Does that awareness change how you live? Should it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI