Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The ladles move through the food but never taste it.
I long to see the faces of those, Nanak says, soaked in the essence of the One's love.
A sharp little Shalok with a kitchen image: "the ladles cruise through the food, but they do not know the taste." You can be immersed in something all day and never taste it — go through all the motions of a spiritual life and never savor the One. Against the tasteless ladle, the speaker longs for those "imbued with the essence" — the ones who actually taste. The warning is gentle: don't be a ladle in your own life, moving through the good without ever tasting it.
Where are you 'moving through' something good without actually tasting it? How could you taste it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI