Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
If you haven't become that magic stone yourself, you can't turn anyone else toward the One. And if you've never taught your own mind, how would you teach someone else's?
A person still blind inside calls himself a teacher. But which way can he point, when he can't see the road?
This line says you can't give what you don't have.
It goes with the verse before it, about the magic stone. Vin man parchay avraa samjhaa-ay — without teaching your own mind, how can you teach others? And guroo sadaa-ay agi-aanee anDhaa — someone blind inside calls himself a guru, but to whom can he show the way?
This is not meant to be mean to anyone. It protects people who are searching. Don't follow someone just because they sound sure. Follow someone who can really see.
Think of a map app with no signal that still says "turn left." Sounding sure is not the same as knowing the road. So the verse asks us to do our own inner work first, before we try to guide anyone. The order matters: be changed first, then pass it on.
Where might you be tempted to give advice you haven't yet lived? What would 'doing it first' look like?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI