Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You can keep every custom and ceremony there is. But without holding the One in your heart, they stay empty.
Remember the One, and the old fear of coming and going is cut clean. Meet the holy ones, and sorrow simply melts away.
Customs and ceremonies stay empty unless the heart is remembering the One.
Aan achaar bi-uhaar hai jaytay bin har simran fok — every other custom and practice is fok, hollow, without remembering the One. Picture a beautiful gift box with nothing inside. The wrapping is lovely, but the gift is the part that counts.
Nothing here is a complaint against any one faith's ways. Just one verse earlier, the old holy books are named with respect. The trouble is emptiness: going through the motions without the heart.
Comfort comes at the very end. Mil saaDhoo binsay sok — meeting holy people, sorrow melts away.
What turns a routine you do into something that means something?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI