Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some seekers wear ear-rings and rub ashes on themselves to show they have given up the world.
But the truest of these is worn inside. Let the Guru's Word be your ear-rings and your ashes. Join the Sangat, and the fear of endings quietly falls away.
The signs a seeker wears can be carried inside. In the Guru's time, yogis wore big ear-rings and rubbed ash on their skin. Those signs told the world, "I have given everything up."
Guru Ram Das turns the signs inward. Satgur parchai man mundraa paa-ee — my mind wears ear-rings made of friendship with the True Guru, the teacher. Gur kaa sabad tan bhasam — the Guru's Word is the ash I put on.
Think of a team jersey. Anyone can buy one and wear it. Being on the team is what you do on the field. Then the verse says that in the Saadh Sangat -- the Sangat -- people gathered together to remember the One, birth and death both come to an end. That means their hold on you, and the fear of beginnings and endings, falls away. The verse is not scolding yogis. It shows that the truest signs of a seeker are carried inside.
What is something you carry inside instead of wearing on the outside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI