Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You can bathe at every sacred river there is and still your pride won't wash off.
As long as the feeling of being separate stays, the inner law keeps the account open.
No holy river can wash off pride. The shabad moves from showing off to pilgrimage.
anayk tirath jay jatan karai — a person may bathe at many tirath, holy places. Still, the ha-umai, the "me first" feeling inside, never leaves. Soap cleans your hands, but it cannot clean a grudge. Pride lives in the heart, not on the skin.
The verse then speaks of Dharam raa-ay, the Righteous Judge. It is best heard as the fair law of life, not a scary courtroom. As long as we feel cut off from the One and from others, that feeling keeps having its effects. Changing places cannot fix what only the heart can change.
Is there something you've tried to fix by changing your surroundings when the real change was inside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI