Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A mind lost in chasing stuff grows a little blind and a little deaf to what matters.
It cannot hear the Word through all its own noise and hurry.
But turn toward the teaching, tune in, and the Word begins to sound clearly.
Listen deeply to the Name, take it in, and be filled with the Name.
Whatever pleases the One unfolds by the One's own doing.
We are like flutes — the music sounds when the One breathes through us.
A Shalok of the Third Mehl with an unforgettable closing image: vajdaa jant vajaa-i-aa — we are instruments that "vibrate as the One plays them." Human beings are flutes; the music is not ours to force — it sounds when breath moves through us. The verse contrasts the maa-i-aa-Dhaaree (one absorbed in chasing possessions), who is "blind and deaf" with "great uproar," against the gurmukh who tunes in and hears. Per the guidelines, the "blind and deaf" is softened to "a little blind, a little deaf to what matters" — a describable state of distraction, not an insult. Suniai runs through the middle: deep listening, taking the Name in until you are filled with it.
When your mind is full of noise and hurry, what do you miss? What helps you grow quiet enough to hear clearly again?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI