Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You stay tangled in the world's affairs, brothers and sisters, and you practice falsehood without even noticing.
The dead person does not hear your wailing at all; your cries are heard only by the other mourners.
A verse of almost uncomfortable honesty about public mourning: the loud laments reach every ear except the one they are addressed to. Guru Nanak is describing the professional wailing customs of his day, where grief was performed at volume — and observing that the performance's real audience is the living. The dead need something else from us entirely: remembrance of the One, a life amended, love carried forward. What is done for show — even sorrow — belongs to the falsehood the opening verse named.
What would it mean to honor someone who died with your life instead of only your tears?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI