Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The soul-bride who makes her real beauty out of love and awe for the One — that's her jewelry — finds, by the Guru's grace, the inner palace that is her true home. Day and night, she stays close to her Beloved, never apart. And she is dyed in **majeeth**, the deepest, most permanent color there is — a love that will never, ever fade.
This verse answers the aching bride of the second verse. There, the soul chasing "the second thing" wandered, apart and hurting. Here, the soul reaches the mahal, the inner palace, and rests with the Beloved. And the change comes gur parsaadee, by the Guru's grace. It is not won by the bride's frantic effort.
Look at what she wears: bhai bhaa-ay seegaar — she adorns herself with awe and love. Bhai often means fear, but here it means awe: the wonder of standing before Something far greater than you. That feeling lives in the word Waheguru. Held together with bhaa-o, love, it makes a balanced heart. The love never turns careless. The awe never turns into cold fear. This is her true seegaar, her jewelry — lovelier than anything worn on the outside. Remember the verse before: outer status weighs nothing.
The last picture is the jewel of the shabad: majeethai rang — the color of majeeth. Majeeth is madder root, which gives a bright red dye. Old-time dyers prized it because it was pakkaa, colorfast. It soaked into every thread and never faded in washing or sun. Guru Amar Das often sets it beside kusumbhaa, safflower dye, which looks dazzling but fades fast. The world's crazes are like kusumbhaa — like a trend that's everywhere this month and gone the next. The love that soaks in through grace is majeeth, deep and lasting. The shabad keeps asking: which dye is soaking into you?
Think of something you were wildly excited about a year ago that you barely care about now. What in your life feels more like the color that lasts?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI