Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A person may bathe at every sacred place and wander the whole earth and still not find a resting place inside. These things, on their own, don't reach that far — they mostly just impress other people.
Doing holy things to impress others brings no rest inside.
Tirath naa-ay ar dharnee bharmataa — bathing at holy places and wandering over the earth. Yet aagai tha-ur na paavai — they find no resting place.
The sharp phrase is oh logan hee patee-aavai — it only pleases other people. Gurbani steadily questions religion done as a show: acts done to win other people's approval instead of to open the heart. Think of posting a photo from a famous place, then checking all day how many likes it got.
The critique is fair to everyone. It aims at the reason for the show, not at pilgrimage or any tradition. The tha-ur, the resting place, is inside. No amount of travelling outside reaches it.
How different does something feel when you do it to be seen, versus when no one's watching?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI