Savaiye in Praise of Guru Amar Das (by the bard Bhikhaa), Verse 20 — a year of searching, then the Guru
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I have searched for the saints, and I have seen so many holy people.
Hermits, Sannyasis, people of hard discipline, and learned Pandits: all of them speak sweetly.
For a whole year I wandered, but no one touched my soul.
I listened to people who talk and teach, but I could not be happy with the way they lived.
They have left the Lord's Naam and clung to something else. Why should I praise them?
Bhikhaa says: the Lord led me to meet the Guru. As You keep me, so I stay.
Sweet words could not reach the soul; the Guru, met as a gift, did.
Bhikhaa gives an honest account of seeking. He met many holy people, hermits, ascetics and scholars, who all spoke sweetly, yet after a year of wandering none had touched his soul. He learned to tell polished words from a life lived well. The critique is of outer show, aimed evenhandedly at every kind of teacher, never at one tradition. In the end the Lord led him to the Guru (gur da-yi milaa-ya-o), a gift received rather than earned. The bard is Bhikhaa.
How do you tell the difference between someone who sounds good and someone whose life matches their words?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI