Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You could read and study all the great old scriptures, searching them from cover to cover. Yet without the Name living in you, none of that study, by itself, sets the heart truly free.
Reading about the One is not the same as living with the One.
Saasat simrit soDh daykhhu ko-ay — study and search the Shaastras and Simritees. These are respected, ancient scriptures. Guru Amar Das names them with respect. The point is never that these books are worthless. The point is that knowing about something is different from living it.
Vin naavai ko mukat na ho-ay — without the Name, no one is set free. Mukat means free. Study alone does not bring that freedom. The Name has to live in you. Kabir's verses say something similar: reading is not meeting.
Think of study as a lamp that lights up a doorway. You still have to walk into the room. The Name is the walking in.
What is the difference between reading about how to swim and actually getting in the water?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI