Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The confused world can call the half-asleep wide awake, and the truly awake asleep. It can treat the deeply alive as good as gone, and shrug at what has really been lost.
The crowd often gets it backwards about who is truly awake, so don't judge yourself by its labels.
The flips go on, now about being alive and awake. Sootay ka-o jaagat kahai — the sleeping are called awake. Here "sleeping" means dozing inside, not paying attention to the One. And those truly awake get called sleepers.
Jeevat ka-o moo-aa kahai — the living are called dead. A person truly alive to the One gets written off. And moo-ay nahee rotaa — no one weeps for what is really lost.
Picture a classmate who is quietly kind every day. Nobody calls that "cool." Meanwhile a loud show-off is called "so alive."
Guru Nanak's point is honest and hopeful. The world's labels are often exactly flipped. So don't measure how alive you are by what the crowd says. Being truly awake to the One matters more than being called awake.
What does it mean to you to be truly "awake" inside, even if not everyone notices?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI