Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
He wanders through birth and death, never chanting the Name.
And he never comes to know his own value — because he never serves the Guru.
The saddest loss is never finding out how much you are worth.
Janam marai bharmaa-ee-ai har naam na layvai — such a person wanders through birth and death and never takes the Name.
The next line is the saddest one. Taa kee keemat naa pavai — he never finds out his own value. The problem is not that he is worth nothing. He is priceless, and he never learns it.
Think of a painting hidden in an attic. It could be a masterpiece, but no one ever takes it to an expert to look at it. Another shabad nearby calls the mind a jewel that needs an expert to value it. Bin gur kee sayvai — without serving the Guru, we never find out. Serving the Guru is how a soul learns what it is worth. And the answer is amazing: we are made of the One's own light.
Do you know your own value — not your grades or stats, but what you actually are?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI