Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You eat at every house, fattening yourself; you wear the patched cloak and beggar's rings for the sake of a living.
You smear ash on your body, but without a teacher you've missed the heart of it all.
Holy signs should not become a way to make a living.
The verse gets specific. Ghar ghar khaa-i-aa pind baDhaa-i-aa — you eat at house after house and grow fat. You wear the patched coat and big earrings of a wandering yogi. And all of it is worn for money. The signs of giving up the world have become a job for getting by.
The ashes are on the skin. Gur bin tat na paa-i-aa — without a Guru, a true teacher, the real heart of things is not found. The verse is not against being poor, or against ashes. It is against emptying holy things into a costume. It is like a doctor's white coat on someone who never learned to heal. What matters is what is inside, not the outfit.
What practices might you keep for how they look or what they get you, rather than what they're really for?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI