fir ays tapay dai muhi ko-ee lagahu naahee ayhu satgur hai fitkaari-aa.
No one is to look at the face of this penitent again. He has been cursed by the True Guru.
ਹਰਿ ਕੈ ਦਰਿ ਵਰਤਿਆ ਸੁ ਨਾਨਕਿ ਆਖਿ ਸੁਣਾਇਆ ॥
har kai dar varti-aa so naanak aakh sunaa-i-aa.
Nanak speaks and reveals what has taken place in the Court of the Lord.
ਸੋ ਬੂਝੈ ਜੁ ਦਯਿ ਸਵਾਰਿਆ ॥੧॥
so boojhai jo da-yi savaari-aa. ||1||
He alone understands, who is blessed and adorned by the Lord. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In plain words
Someone can wear the costume of a holy person on the outside, while inside they are only chasing after more for themselves.
When he was first invited, he turned down our gift. Later he changed his mind and sent his son to sit with the gathering.
The village elders all laughed. "Waves of greed have swept this holy man away," they said.
When there was little to gain, he stayed away. When he saw plenty, he came running and dropped his vows.
The good people sat together and looked closely. They said: this is not truly a holy one. It is a heron standing still, only watching for its next catch.
He spoke against the True One and praised only the things of the world, so all his hard work came to nothing.
Out among the elders, he was called a holy man. But inside, away from their eyes, he did wrong.
The One brought that hidden wrong out into the open, where the elders could see it.
Nanak tells what took place in the court of the One. Only the one the One has blessed truly understands.
A costume of goodness cannot hide an empty heart for long — what is real inside always shows.
The deeper layer
What matters is not the holy costume someone wears, but what is really alive in their heart.
This long Shalok by Guru Ram Das is a portrait of a tapaa. A tapaa is someone who has given up comforts to look holy. This one shows off on the outside, but inside he is greedy. When there is little money to be had, he stays away. When there is a lot, he comes running and drops his promises.
The verse uses very harsh words of its time. It calls him a leper, says he is cursed, and hands him to the messenger of death. Those pictures are not the lesson for a child. The useful lesson is costume versus character.
Look at the bagulaa, the heron. It stands perfectly still in the water, looking calm and holy. Really it is waiting to snatch a fish. That is goodness put on as a show.
The saaDh jan, the good people, are not cruel. They sit together and look with clear eyes. And the deepest line is this: har andarlaa paap panchaa no ughaa kar vaykhaali-aa. The One brought the hidden wrong out into the open. What is inside shows on the outside in the end. A heart cannot wear a costume forever.
The point is never to look down on a person. It is to warn against acting good instead of living good. In history, this verse remembers a real falling-out in the early Sikh community. Here it is lifted into a lesson for all times. If someone is being unkind to you or hurting you, that is never something you have to accept. Telling a grown-up you trust is always the right thing to do.
A Question to Sit With
When have you been tempted to look good on the outside instead of actually being good — and what is the difference between the two?
