Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some follow paths of discipline. Some enjoy the pleasures of the world. Some pursue deep knowledge. Some sit in quiet meditation.
Some carry the staff of the wanderer. So many different ways of living.
People take countless different paths, and Guru Arjan names them all without making fun of any.
Here the shabad starts its list. Jog is the path of strict body and breath discipline. Bhog is enjoying the good things of the world. Gi-aan is the path of knowledge. Dhi-aan is meditation, sitting in stillness. Dand dhar are those who carry a staff and live as wandering holy people.
Picture a big school cafeteria. At one table kids are studying. At another they are laughing and eating. At another they sit quietly. They are all different, and they are all hungry.
The list is fair to everyone. No path is mocked. The pause line and the last verse name the One as the sweetness in everything. The shabad does not go further and say that every one of these paths ends in the same place.
Do you know people who reach for meaning in very different ways than you do?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI