Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Think of your body as a sheet of paper, and your mind as the writing on it.
Someone who will not read what is written in his own heart misses the message. In the One's court, three kinds of writing are read. What you are inside is what counts, and no fake can pass for real.
What you are inside is what counts in the end — and nothing fake passes for real.
Guru Nanak begins with a picture: kaa-i-aa kaagad man parvaanaa — the body is a sheet of paper, and the mind is the writing on it. Every day, our thoughts and choices write on that page. Sir kay laykh na parhai i-aanaa: the one who does not yet understand will not read what is written there. I-aanaa means someone who does not know yet — like a child who has not learned to read.
Dargeh gharhee-ahi teenay laykh — in the One's court, three kinds of writing are recorded. Teachers often read these as the three qualities of mind — calm, restless and heavy — that color everything we do.
Then the coin picture begins: khotaa kaam na aavai vaykh, see, a counterfeit coin is of no use there. A fake coin may shine, but it cannot buy anything. What matters is the real writing of the heart, not a forged appearance.
If your heart were a page, what would you want it to say?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI