Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Everyone *calls* themselves Your devotee, O One. But the real devotees are the ones who actually please Your heart. They praise You through the true **bani**, dyed in the color of Your love, and it's *You* who moves them to such devotion in the first place.
This one asks who the real devotees are: the ones who say so, or the ones whose hearts are full of love?
Sabh ko tayraa bhagat kahaa-ay — everyone calls themselves Your devotee (a bhagat, someone who loves and serves the One). The name is easy to claim. Anyone can wear the right clothes, say the right words and show up at the right places. But say-ee bhagat tayrai man bhaa-ay — the real devotees are the ones who please Your heart. The difference is something only the One can see: what is truly inside. You can't become a true friend just by announcing it. It shows in how you actually are.
So what do real devotees do? Sach banee tuDhai saalaahan rang raatay — they praise You through the true bani, the Guru's words, dyed in the color of love. Their praise is sach, real, not a show. And they are rang raatay, soaked in love like cloth dyed so deep the color never washes out. It isn't how much you praise, or how many people see it. It is whether the praise comes from a heart truly colored by love.
Then comes the line that stops this from turning into feeling better than others: bhagat karaavani-aa — You cause the devotion. Even the real devotee can't take the credit. The One moved them to love. So the verse isn't asking us to look around and judge who is real and who is fake. Only the One sees hearts. It is a gentle mirror held up to ourselves. Not "Do people call me a devotee?" but "Is my heart really dyed in love, and am I open to being moved toward it?" The name is something you give yourself. The real thing is something you receive.
What's the difference between *calling* yourself something good (kind, honest, devoted) and actually *being* it where no one can see?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI