Salok Vaaraan Te Vadheek (Mehl 3), Salok 65 — the robe is not the road
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Whoever dies in the Word — letting the "I, I" self go — is the one who wins through; without the Word, no one is set free.
People put on holy robes and do many rituals, and still come to ruin; in love of "the other," the whole world is ruined.
Nanak says: without the True Guru the Naam is not found, even if someone longs for it a hundred times.
Only the self that lets go in the Word is set free; robes and rituals cannot do it.
Sabad marai so-ee jan sijhai: whoever "dies in the Word" succeeds. That means the ego, not the person, dissolving into the Word, a death that brings life. Bhaykh karahi baho karam: wearing holy robes and doing many rituals, people still come to ruin. The words aim at empty show, the pull in every tradition to mistake the outside for the inside. Practice without the heart is only a costume.
Where might you be doing the outside of something without the inside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI