Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Your devotees look beautiful in the True Court, O One. Through the Guru's **shabad**, they're decorated with the Name — that's their finery. They stay in deep joy day and night, and by speaking Your beautiful qualities, they slowly become full of those qualities until they melt into the One who has them all.
This verse says that in the One's court, people shine because of what is inside them, not what they wear.
The picture is a royal court. Tayray bhagat soheh saachai darbaaray — Your devotees look beautiful in the True Court. The darbaar is a king's hall, here meaning being with the One. In that hall the devotees soheh, they shine. But look at why. In a king's hall on earth, people wear gold and jewels to look important. Here the finery is different. Gur kai sabad naam savaaray — through the Guru's shabad, the Word, they are dressed in the Naam, the Name. Their beauty is not borrowed from clothes. It is the glow of a heart full of the Name. In the True Court, what makes you beautiful is what you carry inside.
This turns the world's ranking upside down. At school or with friends, people often try to look impressive with the right shoes, the right grades, the right crowd. The True Court runs the other way. The one who shines is the one dressed in the Name, no matter what they wear or own. Real honor is an inside job.
The result is a promise this shabad keeps making: sadaa anand — steady joy, day and night. Not the up-and-down happiness of getting things, but a calm, deep gladness. And the last line shows how it works: gun kahi gunee samaavani-aa — speaking of the One's gun, good qualities, they merge into the One who has them all. When we keep praising the One's kindness, patience and truth, we slowly take on those same qualities. It is like humming a song so often that it becomes part of you. The praise is not flattery. It is a slow becoming.
In the "courts" you walk into — school, friend groups — what does the world reward you for looking like? What would it mean to be "adorned" from the inside instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI