Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A judge who lies, a priest who harms and then washes up as if clean, a seeker who has lost the way.
A title alone, without a true heart, comes to nothing.
Three respected roles of the day each go hollow when the heart does not match the title.
The three are the kaadee (Qazi, a Muslim judge), the baraahman (Brahmin, a Hindu priest) and the jogee (Yogi, a holy man who has left ordinary life behind). Kaadee koorh bol mal khaa-ay: the judge tells lies and takes bribes — "eats filth." Baraahman naavai jee-aa ghaa-ay: the priest harms living beings, then bathes as if that makes him clean. Jogee jugat na jaanai anDh: the yogi is blind and does not know the way.
Teenay ojaarhay kaa banDh — all three are building their own ruin. The critique is fair to every tradition: a Muslim, a Hindu and a yogi, side by side. It aims at hollowness, not at any faith. Think of a lifeguard's whistle and red shirt: they only matter if the person wearing them can swim. A title without a true heart comes to nothing.
Why does a job title or a label matter less than how a person behaves?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI