Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Learned judges, holy elders, and wandering seekers in religious robes may call themselves great.
Yet if that greatness feeds only their ego, they carry a quiet ache inside.
No title spares us from life's endings. Only the steadying support of the teaching does.
This one says that a holy title which only feeds the ego brings an ache inside.
Nanak names kaajee, saykh, fakeeraa — Qazis (judges of Islamic law), Shaykhs (respected elders), and Fakirs (wandering holy men). These were honored figures of the Islamic world around him. Nanak is being evenhanded. He is not aiming at one faith. He is aiming at a trap anyone can fall into: letting a holy title become a costume for the ego. Bhaykh means that outer costume, the religious robes.
Vaday kahaaveh ha-umai tan peeraa — they call themselves great, and through haumai, the me-first feeling, their body aches. Think of a medal that is too heavy to wear. The more you need people to see it, the more it weighs on you.
Kaal na chhodai bin satgur kee Dheeraa — without the steadying support of the True Guru, death does not let go. That remedy is the same for everyone. Anyone can ask this same question inside their own tradition, and find the same remedy in devotion.
Have you ever met someone who acted very important but did not seem happy inside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI