Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
All the many shapes of clinging - know that every one of them is passing.
People fall in love with the shade of a tree, and when the shade moves on, they grieve as if robbed.
Whatever can be seen is on its way out - and still we cling with both hands, eyes shut.
Give your heart to a traveler just passing through, and your hands end up empty. Love the Name instead, dear mind - that love brings peace. Nanak says: in Mercy, the One draws you all the way home.
The shade of a tree was always going to move, so love what stays.
There are three pictures here of love put in the wrong place. Each is more gentle than blaming.
First, birakh kee chhaa-i-aa, the shade of a tree. It is real, cool, and lovely. But it cannot stay put as the sun moves across the sky. Second, the whole visible world: jo deesai so chaalanhaar, whatever is seen will pass. Third, bataa-oo, a traveler just passing through, who is given a heart he cannot keep.
None of these is a villain. The shade did not lie. The traveler did not trick anyone. Passing away was written on the label from the start. The clinging simply chose not to read it. Think of a snowman on a sunny morning. It was always going to melt, and it was still fun to build.
This is the teaching of Sach, the real, in a small package: the real is what lasts, and the rest passes. The answer is not to stop loving. It is to rest love's weight on what stays. Man har kay naam kee pareet sukh-daa-ee — O mind, love of the Name brings peace. It is the one love that does not move on.
And as always in Sukhmani, the last line hands even this over to Mercy. In Mercy, the One draws us close.
What have you loved that could never have stayed - and can you thank it instead of grieving it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI