Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Praising anything while forgetting the Name behind it all tastes flat, like food with no flavor.
When people are turned only toward themselves, they end up praising their own egos, tangled in the endless argument of "me, mine, more."
The things they prop up don't last, and all that quarreling wears itself out and fades.
But those who turn toward the teaching come through, held up by holding the One in mind — the One who is boundless, quiet joy itself.
Praise that forgets the One behind everything tastes flat, and the person who turns toward the teaching finds real joy.
This Shalok, a short couplet, compares two ways of facing. The manmukh faces only themselves. The gurmukh faces the teaching. The verse does not blame the manmukh. It shows them as tangled up: haumai mamtaa vaad. That means ego, "me and mine," and arguing that never ends. Haumai is the ego, the loud "me" inside.
That tangle khap jaavai: it wears itself out. It is not punished. It just runs down, like a toy whose batteries die.
Praise cut off from the Naam, the Name of the One, is fikaa saad. That means flat-tasting, like food with no salt. Any child who has tasted plain rice knows that feeling.
Jin saalaahan say mareh means "those they praise die." The gentle truth underneath is this: propping up things that do not last leaves you empty. The ending names the One as parmaanaad, the highest joy, a quiet joy with no edges. That is the good place the manmukh has simply turned their back on.
Have you ever chased something you were sure would make you happy, only for it to feel empty once you had it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI