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Sikhism·Raag Goojaree·Shabad 57
Verse 4 of 66

Put Your Devotion Where It Won't Be Buried

ਸਲੋਕੁ ਮਃ ੩ ॥
salok mehlaa 3.
Shalok, Third Mehl:
ਸਾਹਿਬੁ ਮੇਰਾ ਸਦਾ ਹੈ ਦਿਸੈ ਸਬਦੁ ਕਮਾਇ ॥
saahib mayraa sadaa hai disai sabad kamaa-ay.
My Master is eternal. He is seen by practicing the Word of the Shabad.
ਓਹੁ ਅਉਹਾਣੀ ਕਦੇ ਨਾਹਿ ਨਾ ਆਵੈ ਨਾ ਜਾਇ ॥
oh a-uhaanee kaday naahi naa aavai naa jaa-ay.
He never perishes; He does not come or go in reincarnation.
ਸਦਾ ਸਦਾ ਸੋ ਸੇਵੀਐ ਜੋ ਸਭ ਮਹਿ ਰਹੈ ਸਮਾਇ ॥
sadaa sadaa so sayvee-ai jo sabh meh rahai samaa-ay.
So serve Him, forever and ever; He is contained in all.
ਅਵਰੁ ਦੂਜਾ ਕਿਉ ਸੇਵੀਐ ਜੰਮੈ ਤੈ ਮਰਿ ਜਾਇ ॥
avar doojaa ki-o sayvee-ai jammai tai mar jaa-ay.
Why serve another who is born, and then dies?
ਨਿਹਫਲੁ ਤਿਨ ਕਾ ਜੀਵਿਆ ਜਿ ਖਸਮੁ ਨ ਜਾਣਹਿ ਆਪਣਾ ਅਵਰੀ ਕਉ ਚਿਤੁ ਲਾਇ ॥
nihfal tin kaa jeevi-aa je khasam na jaaneh aapnaa avree ka-o chit laa-ay.
Fruitless is the life of those who do not know their Lord and Master, and who center their consciousness on others.
ਨਾਨਕ ਏਵ ਨ ਜਾਪਈ ਕਰਤਾ ਕੇਤੀ ਦੇਇ ਸਜਾਇ ॥੧॥
naanak ayv na jaap-ee kartaa kaytee day-ay sajaa-ay. ||1||
O Nanak, it cannot be known, how much punishment the Creator shall inflict on them. ||1||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

My Master never dies; you see the One by living the Word.

The One doesn't come and go in the churn of birth and death — so serve that One always. Why give your life to something that is itself born and dies?

Put your devotion where it won't be buried — serve what lasts, not what is itself passing away.
The deeper layer

The Shalok draws a sharp practical line: serve the imperishable, not the perishable. Everything we tend to worship — status, wealth, even the gods born in time — "is born, and then dies." Only the One "never perishes." The counsel is simply consistency: put your devotion where it won't be buried. A life centered on things that die is "fruitless" not by punishment but by nature.

A Question to Sit With

What have you been serving that is itself 'born and dies'? What in your life actually lasts?

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

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