Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The herdsman comes to the pasture lands — but what good are his ostentatious displays?
He says 'mine, mine' — but it was all given by God. The herdsman doesn't own the pasture.
Everything you claim was given. The claiming doesn't make it yours.
The herdsman (gwala) in the pasture (bann mahi) — a working image from the agricultural Punjab. The herdsman brings his cattle to land he does not own; he tends what is not his. His "ostentatious displays" (dikhaave) — his performance of ownership or importance — are pointless because he is just passing through.
"Mine, mine" (meraa meraa) — the possessive cry that Guru Arjan has named throughout the Siree Raag compositions. The herdsman cries "mine" about land that was always the owner's.
This is the human condition summarized: we come to the world like herdsmen to a pasture we don't own, claim everything, perform ownership, and then leave without taking anything.
What do you most completely experience as 'mine' — as genuinely belonging to you? And what would it feel like to hold it as something given to you for a while, rather than owned?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI