Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A performer can keep perfect rhythm and play every instrument beautifully.
But if it's all just for show, no one truly *listens*, no one keeps it in their heart.
They build a stage and dance for the sake of **maya** — money, applause — but loving "the second thing," all they really get is sorrow.
This verse finishes the song's look at the fake dance. Its point: being skilled is not the same as being real.
It admits something surprising. The showy performer might be truly talented. Baho taal pooray vaajay vajaa-ay — they keep many perfect rhythms and play every instrument. Guru Amar Das isn't mocking bad performers. He points at excellent ones. The dance can be flawless, the music expert, the rhythm perfect — and still be empty. You can do everything right on the outside and still miss the one thing that matters.
What's missing shows in the result: naa ko sunay na man vasaa-ay — no one truly listens, no one keeps it in the heart. The show may dazzle the eyes, but it doesn't reach anyone. It doesn't settle in a single heart and change it. Why not? Because what doesn't come from the heart can't get to the heart. The true devotee's song, lit by grace in the last verse, carries the inner music and lifts everyone near. The polished show leaves the room as empty as it found it. Real things pass from heart to heart. Shows fade away.
The cause is named plainly. Maa-i-aa kaaran pirh banDh naachai — for the sake of Maya they set up a stage and dance. Pirh banDh means roping off an arena for a show. The whole production exists to get something: money, fame, admiration. Underneath it is doojai bhaa-ay — love of "the second thing," anything chased in place of the One. So even the religious show is really a trade with Maya. And the pay for that trade is dukh, sorrow. Chasing applause never satisfies. The crowd always wants more, then moves on, like likes on a post that stop coming. The lesson is bracing, and freeing: being impressive is not the goal. You can be the most talented, most praised person in the room and still feel empty. What fills a heart — yours and others' — is never the polish of the show. It is the truth behind it.
Is there something you do really well that might be more about impressing others than about the thing itself? What would doing it "for real" feel like?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI