Goodness Can't Be a Badge Given Only to Some
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Think about it: this thread is worn on just one shoulder, by only some people — and none at all for women.
So it can't be the real measure of goodness. Real virtue belongs to your whole self and to everyone — not a string given to a few.
This shalok gently exposes how incomplete the outer thread is. It's worn on one shoulder, by certain men — there is no thread for the hands, the feet, the tongue, or the eyes (the parts that actually do good or harm), and — pointedly — no sacred thread for woman at all. Nanak's question underneath is quietly revolutionary: if the thread marks holiness, why does it leave out women entirely, and why cover only one small part of a person? Real goodness can't be a string given to a select few; it must belong to your whole self — your hands, your words, your eyes — and to everyone, women and men alike. The shalok also notes the priest who twists threads for others and takes payment while being blind yet called wise. The teaching for a child is one of the tradition's foundations: goodness and worth are for everyone equally — never a badge handed to some and denied to others.
Why is it fairer for goodness and worth to belong to everyone, rather than a special few?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI