Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Real devotion happens when the One Himself moves a person to turn toward the light and worship. Then their body and mind get dyed in His love, easily and naturally (**sahaj**). The **bani** rings out and the **shabad** resounds within them — and that gurmukh's devotion is *accepted*, found genuine and worthy.
After the fake dance of the last verse, this one shows the secret of the real one. Real devotion is lit in us by the One. It is never just put on.
Gurmukh bhagat jaa aap karaa-ay — true devotion happens when the One Himself brings it about. Read that slowly. The showy dancer of the last verse was self-driven, planning a show to be seen. The true devotee doesn't make their devotion at all. The One moves them to it. That is the great dividing line. The fake dance comes from the ego. The true dance comes from grace. You can't force yourself to love something, any more than you can force yourself to find a joke funny. Love has to be lit in you, like a candle. Here, the One lights it.
This solves a puzzle the song has been building. We can't tell the true dancer from the fake one by looking. We might even fool ourselves. So how does real devotion ever happen? Not by trying harder to be sincere — that can become another show. It happens by being moved by the One. Gurmukh means someone whose face is turned toward the Guru's light. Even that turning is something the One inspires. Your part is simply to be willing to be moved.
When devotion is real, three things follow. First: tan man raataa sahj subhaa-ay — body and mind are dyed in love, easily and naturally. That easy calm, sahj, marks everything real; the fake dance was all strain and shouting. Second: banee vajai sabad vajaa-ay — the bani rings and the Shabad, the Word, sounds within. It is the inner music of the shabad before this one, now playing in the true dancer. Third: bhagat thaa-ay paavni-aa — the devotion is accepted and given its place. What makes devotion count isn't how loud or visible it is. It is where it comes from. Born of grace, easy and full of inner music, the true dance is known as real, because it was the One dancing in the soul all along.
What's the difference between forcing yourself to care about something and actually being moved to care? Can you tell which is which inside you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI