Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Plant the seed of Truth in the soil of honest living — practice that kind of farming.
Only then are you truly called a merchant: if your profits travel with you.
The hymn now stacks its two work-metaphors into one economy: farm Truth, then trade it. Sow sat — truth — in soil worked by dharma, honest living; the harvest is the only merchandise whose profit clears the final customs. The definition of merchant is quietly rewritten in the second line: not one who accumulates, but one whose gains go along. By that ledger, many of the wealthy die bankrupt and many of the poor die rich — the accounting Guru Nanak has been teaching since the shepherd pitched his tent in the first verse.
What did you plant this week that will still be growing in you years from now?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI