mahalā 2.
nāli iāṇe dostī vaḍārū siu nehu.
pāṇī andari līk jiu tis da thāu na thehu.4.
nāli iāṇe dostī vaḍārū siu nehu.
pāṇī andari līk jiu tis da thāu na thehu.4.
mahalā 2. |
nāli iāṇe dostī vaḍārū siu nehu. |
pāṇī andari līk jiu tis da thāu na thehu.4. |
Guru Angad focuses on the questions we wrestle with as we form new relationships and maintain relationships we already have: which matters more to us? Friendship with the ignorant or love with the great? This is where we are caught up so often, measuring our relationships up against each other, trying to find the relationships that give us the largest net gain, calculating at every moment who will serve us best. Maybe with the ignorant, we get to make ourselves feel big, we get to feel important and looked up to, and we like the feeling of being placed on a pedestal. Maybe in friendships with those who are great or “bigger” than us, we get to ride their coattails up the ladder of social status and power, we get to feel honored that they keep us around, we get to feel powerful by proxy. But, for both of these types of relationships, Guru Angad says, it is like we are drawing a line in the water. How long do they last? Only a moment, and then it is as if the water was never touched in the first place. These relationships are temporary and short-lived and ultimately do nothing for us in the long run.
Friendship with an ignorant person and love with a person of a high status is like a line drawn in the water, which ceases to exist immediately after having been drawn. Similarly, love with an ignorant and egotistical person is temporary and short-lived.
Friendship with an ignorant (being and) love with (a being) of high status, is like (drawing) a line in the water; there is neither a sign nor a trace of that (line).
This salok employs simile to state that friendship with an immature person and love with an egotistical person, are both like a line drawn in the water, which ceases to exist immediately after having been drawn. It implies that love with both an ignorant and an egotistical person is temporary and short-lived. Here two different situations have been compared.
The meter convention of this salok is 13+11. Consequently, it can be categorized under a two line verse/couplet with 13+11 characters each (doharā chand).
The meter convention of this salok is 13+11. Consequently, it can be categorized under a two line verse/couplet with 13+11 characters each (doharā chand).