Sikhism·Raag Gauree·Shabad 8
Verse 4 of 5

The One Reads Your Heart, Not Your Performance

ਜਤੁ ਸਤੁ ਤੀਰਥੁ ਮਜਨੁ ਨਾਮਿ ॥
jat sat tirath majan naam.
The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is austerity, chastity and cleansing baths at sacred shrines of pilgrimage.
ਅਧਿਕ ਬਿਥਾਰੁ ਕਰਉ ਕਿਸੁ ਕਾਮਿ ॥
aDhik bithaar kara-o kis kaam.
What good are ostentatious displays?
ਨਰ ਨਾਰਾਇਣ ਅੰਤਰਜਾਮਿ ॥੩॥
nar naaraa-in antarjaam. ||3||
The All-pervading Lord is the Inner-knower, the Searcher of hearts. ||3||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

The Name itself is all the discipline, the purity, and the holy bathing you could ever need. What use is showing off how religious you are? The One lives inside and reads every heart.

The Name is worth more than every show of religion -- and the One reads your heart, not your performance.
The deeper layer

This one says the Name is worth more than every outward show of religion.

Jat sat tirath majan naam — the Name is the discipline, the purity, and the holy bath, all at once. Guru Nanak takes the outside practices of his day and gathers them all into the Name. These were strict self-control, keeping pure, and bathing at holy places of pilgrimage.

Adhik bithaar kara-o kis kaam — what use is a big show? Think of someone who wears a team jersey to every game but never learns the players' names. The jersey is loud. The love is missing.

Nar naaraa-in antarjaam — the One lives inside everyone and knows every heart. So the holy moves from the stage to the heart, to the inner taste the Gurus call Har Ras, the sweetness of the One.

A Question to Sit With

Have you ever done something good just to be seen doing it? How was that different from doing it quietly?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

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