Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
It's easy to get 'drunk' on the wrong things — on wanting, on anger, on the puffed-up me-first feeling.
That kind of drunkenness muddles a person and leads them astray.
So here's a better recipe: let good deeds be your distillery and truth your sweetness.
Make kindness your bread and honest living your food, and you'll be nourished by the very best.
This is a landmark: a Shalok by Mardaanaa — Guru Nanak's lifelong companion, the Muslim rabab (rebec) player who traveled the world with him — one of very few verses in the whole Guru Granth Sahib attributed to him. It takes the imagery of a distillery (making wine) and completely reinterprets it. Ordinary intoxication — "the wine of desire, the cup of anger, ego the server" — "ruins" a person. So Mardaanaa says: make a different brew. "Let good deeds be your distillery, and Truth your molasses... make virtue your bread, good conduct the ghee, and modesty the meat." Every element of a feast is transformed into a spiritual quality. It's the Gurus' signature move — taking a worldly practice and relocating its meaning to the heart — here voiced by a Muslim minstrel, a beautiful sign of the tradition's openness.
What good qualities would you put in your 'recipe' for the kind of person you want to be?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI