Elephant's Bath, Dog's Tail, Flight of the Chicken

Have you ever noticed the references made to dog's tail, elephant's bath and flight of a chicken in Gurbani?

Well, some of these phrases and expressions were already in use before Gurbani was written, while others seem to have been minted by the authors of Gurbani themselves. These catchy phrases are easy to remember. You can repeat and use them in your daily conversations.

For instance, suaan poochh (dog's tail):

suaan poochh jiu bhaio na soodhau bahut jatan mai keenau.

I have tried a lot, but like a dog's tail this evil mind remains bent, it does not straighten. - GGS, 633

An Arab proverb proclaims: "A dog's tail will never be straight" while an Indian proverb says, "A dog's tail stays crooked even if it is buried for twelve years".

Sometimes, the bad habits of human beings are compared to a dog's tail. People exclaim that a person's character and personality is like a dog's curved tail, which can never be straightened, meaning that they will never change their behaviour.

Similarly, the world is like a mirage, but this mind is so attached to its illusory permanence that even after being told about the illusory nature of the world, the humans remain overly attached to all impermanent endeavours and thus never leave their old bad habits. Like a dog's tail, they remain in their same habits, unless they shed their egoism and seek wisdom from Gurbani.

Kunchar isnaan (elephant's bath) is another such example in Gurbani:

teerath barat ar daan kar man mai dharai gumaan.

naanak nihphal jaat tih jiu kunchar isnaan.

Nanak! Having bathed at places of pilgrimage, observed fasts and made donations,

if one takes pride in one's mind then all these practices are fruitless, like an elephant's bath. - GGS, 1428

Sadly, humans, while attempting to comprehend the Divine, end up becoming slaves to the illusions of religion. Running after their self-satisfying goals, they concentrate on the means rather than the end goal, which is to walk on the virtuous path. They get entangled in useless rituals rather than reaching out and understanding the Divine.

Ritualistic practices become their saviours, becoming a mirage of spirituality. Worse than that, the ignorant take excessive pride in the rituals they perform; thus instead of transforming one's behaviour and shedding one's egotism and other vices, the individual indulges in further unhealthy egoistic pleasures of the mind. When egotism balloons, the discerning mind shuts down, and the mirage becomes their false reality.

This verse equates such behaviour to an elephant which takes a bath but then rolls in the dust rendering the bath futile. In the same way, cleansing of the body is useless if the mind is polluted even more with the pride of mere ritualistic practices.

Kukaṛ dee udaaree (flight of a chicken) is another such phrase:

hansaa setee chit ulaasahi kukaṛ dee odaaree.

Some people aspire in their mind to fly with swans but are capable only of the flight of a chicken. - GGS, 322