Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Acting out of ego, people put on a show to impress everyone, and go through all kinds of religious motions — but none of it earns them a welcome at the One's door.
Nothing happens at all without you, anyway. And you forgive the ones who are dressed in your Word.
This verse says the One isn't impressed by a show. The One looks past it to the heart.
It is about religion done as a performance, a show put on to be admired. Ha-o ha-o karay tai aap janaa-ay means "acting from 'me, me,' they show themselves off." Ha-o means "I," the ego. Baho karam karai kichh thaa-ay na paa-ay means "they do many rituals, but none of it is accepted." Karam here means religious actions and ceremonies.
This is the ego's fake version of a spiritual life. Good deeds and ceremonies done not out of love, but to be seen, to build a name for being holy. Guru Amar Das gives a flat answer. None of it is accepted. The One is not impressed by a show, because the One sees straight past the show to the ego putting it on. It's like a student who acts busy only when the teacher walks by. A good teacher isn't fooled. A performance done for an audience reaches only as far as the audience.
This isn't a word against rituals or prayer themselves. It is about the showing off.
Then the verse rests everything on the One. Tujh tay baahar kichhoo na hovai means "without You, nothing happens at all." Even the breath the show-off uses to perform belongs to the One. Nothing the ego does is truly its own doing. That quietly pops the whole show. The performer is taking credit for a power that was only lent.
Last, the verse names who is truly welcomed. Bakhsay sabad suhaavani-aa means "You forgive those made beautiful by the Word." Not those dressed up in big deeds and a fine reputation. Those dressed inside in the Shabad, the Guru's Word, are forgiven and welcomed. The ego dresses itself in ritual and display and is turned away. The gurmukh, the one facing the Guru, is dressed in the Word and is forgiven. What you wear before the One isn't your trophies. It is your heart. And only the Word makes a heart beautiful in a way the One welcomes.
Is there a way you 'perform' goodness to be seen — and what would it mean to be adorned inwardly instead of outwardly?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI