Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I journeyed to the holy shrines, and saw people there acting out of ego.
I questioned the scholars, and found them stained by illusion.
Guru Arjan goes looking for the real thing in the places everyone points to, and does not find it there.
First he goes to the holy shrines, the places people travel to on pilgrimage. There he sees people "acting in ego," full of themselves. Then he asks the Pandits, the learned scholars. He finds them caught by Maya, the pull of money and show.
It is like hunting for your lost keys only where the light is good. The obvious places are easy to check. But what the soul is looking for is not waiting there. The complaint is not about shrines or scholars. It is about going through the motions with an empty heart. Other Aasaa shabads say the same thing about pilgrimage and learning.
Have you looked for something good in the expected place and not found it there?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI