ਮਃ ੩ ॥
mehlaa 3.
Third Mehl:
ਸਦਾ ਸਦਾ ਸਾਲਾਹੀਐ ਸਚੇ ਕਉ ਬਲਿ ਜਾਉ ॥
sadaa sadaa salaahee-ai sachay ka-o bal jaa-o.
Praise the Lord, forever and ever, and make yourself a sacrifice to the True Lord.
ਨਾਨਕ ਏਕੁ ਛੋਡਿ ਦੂਜੈ ਲਗੈ ਸਾ ਜਿਹਵਾ ਜਲਿ ਜਾਉ ॥੨॥
naanak ayk chhod doojai lagai saa jihvaa jal jaa-o. ||2||
O Nanak, let that tongue be burnt, which renounces the One Lord, and attaches itself to another. ||2||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Praise the One always, and make yourself an offering to it.
Nanak says: let that tongue burn which lets go of the One and clings to a second.
The mouth's highest use is praise; its saddest misuse is spending itself on the passing while forgetting the One.
A fierce little Shalok — "let that tongue be burnt" which "attaches itself to another." The heat of the language marks the stakes: a tongue given to praising the passing and forgetting the One is a tongue wasted. Read as intensity of love, not literal curse, it insists that the mouth's highest use is praise of the One, and its saddest misuse is spending itself on lesser things.
A Question to Sit With
What does your tongue most often 'cling to'? Is that where you'd want its energy to go?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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