Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Make your good sense the instrument and your love the drum. Play them, and a deep, lasting joy rises in you.
That is real worship; that is the only penance worth doing.
So dance — in love — and let your whole self keep the beat.
Real worship is love making music inside you, not a show for others.
In Guru Nanak's time, many people worshipped by dancing to music. Guru Nanak takes each part of that dance and moves it inside. Vaajaa mat pakhaavaj bhaa-o — let your good sense be the instrument and your love the drum. Play them, and a deep joy rises that lasts.
Then he says this inner music is both bhagat, loving worship, and tap, the hard practice people once did to grow closer to the One. One inner movement takes the place of all the outer steps. Think of a song you love playing in your head all day. No one else hears it, yet it changes how you walk. Guru Nanak does the same with yoga in Raag Gauree, turning outer practice into inner practice.
What is something you do on the outside that would change completely if your heart were truly in it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI