Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When the Name is forgotten, words start to ring hollow.
The little thieves inside -- greed, anger, and the rest -- slip in through the open door of ego.
A heart cut off from the One gets fooled by its own confusion, and misses the sweetness right there.
Losing the nectar to doubt, it stays tangled in things that never satisfy.
They make friends with those who do wrong, and quarrel with the Guru's people.
Nanak says: cut off like that, they stay bound up in sorrow.
Each one lives out what they have done before; as the One keeps them, so they live.
Forgetting the Name slowly empties a life, like thieves emptying a house.
This is a shalok, a short verse, by Guru Amar Das.
Panch chor means the five thieves. They are five inner troubles: wanting too much, anger, greed, clinging, and pride. When the Name is forgotten, they slip into the house of the heart. Ego breaks in with them.
The verse calls such a person a saakat, someone cut off from the One. Their own confused thinking fools them. Har ras na jaanani — they never know the sweet taste of the One. They lose the nectar to doubt, and stay tangled in things that never satisfy.
Then the verse speaks of hard results. They pick friends who do wrong and quarrel with the kind, and they end up bound in sorrow. Each person lives out the pattern of what they have done. Jiv raakhahi tivai rahani — as the One keeps them, so they live.
Think of a house with the door left wide open all night. Things go missing without a sound. Keeping the Name close is like closing that door. And the door home is never locked. The One can gather anyone back in.
What helps you remember the things that matter when it would be easy to forget them?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI