Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Power is a fraud, beauty is a fraud, wealth is a fraud, and so is pride in one's ancestry.
One may gather poison by deception, Nanak, but without the One, nothing goes with you in the end.
A blunt fourfold verdict: power, beauty, wealth, and pride of birth are all "fraudulent" — not because they don't exist, but because they promise what they cannot deliver (lasting worth, security, identity) and then leave you at the end. "Pride of ancestry" is pointedly included — the accident of who your family is confers no real worth. And the refrain returns: whatever you gather by deception is "poison," and "nothing shall go along with you." The Vaar keeps stripping away every false foundation so that only the true one — the One — remains to stand on.
Why does the poem call even beauty and family-pride 'frauds'? What are they promising that they can't actually deliver?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI