Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Jewels, treasures, pearls, gold and silver — all these are just dust.
Mother, father, children and relatives — all relations are false. Not real? No: not permanent.
The self-willed manmukh does not acknowledge the One who created him.
The jewels-as-dust teaching continues from Guru Nanak and Guru Amar Das. Guru Arjan adds specifically: family relations (maataa pitaa sut bhaaee) are also jhoothe — false, in the sense of not permanent, not ultimate. Not that they don't exist or don't matter. But they cannot be the foundation.
The ingratitude of the manmukh is named: does not acknowledge (na jaanai) the One who created him. The most basic relationship — creator and created — goes unrecognized.
What relationships or possessions do you sometimes hold as if they were permanent — as if losing them would be cosmically wrong? What would it look like to love them as the gifts they are?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI