Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One made this whole universe, dressed it in beauty, and watches over it with care. And like a master coin-checker who can spot a fake in an instant, it knows the real from the false.
The genuine coins it keeps safe in its treasury; the counterfeits get set aside. And a counterfeit can't argue its way back in — so what is a fake to do? Here is the wonderful part: turn to the true teacher, and the teacher can turn a counterfeit into the real thing. Through the Word, a false heart is made genuine. Those who truly love the teacher are honored at the One's door — and the worth of those the One itself has forgiven is beyond all measuring.
This Pauree runs on one of Guru Nanak's favorite metaphors: the One as the Appraiser of coins. In a world where counterfeit currency was a real danger, the moneychanger who could tell true coin from false was a figure everyone understood. Guru Nanak makes the One that Appraiser of souls: some are counterfeit, and some are genuine. He Himself is the Appraiser. The genuine — the souls that ring true — are kept in His Treasury; the counterfeit are thrown away, cast out of the True Court. And a fake coin has no appeal: unto whom should they complain? You cannot argue a counterfeit into being genuine.
If the Pauree stopped there, it would be stern. But its heart is in the line that follows, and it is pure hope: the True Guru converts the counterfeit into genuine. This is the astonishing mercy at the center of the metaphor. In ordinary life, a counterfeit coin is simply worthless — there is nothing to be done with it. But the Guru can do what no moneychanger can: take a false coin and make it real, transform a counterfeit heart into a genuine one through the Word of the Shabad. No one is permanently a fake. The very souls cast out of the Treasury can be re-minted, made true, and welcomed in.
So the Pauree turns from judgment to invitation: they should worship and follow the True Guru — this is the lifestyle of excellence. The response to discovering you are counterfeit is not despair but the Guru, who alone can change your metal. And the closing line opens onto something immeasurable: who can estimate the value of those who have been forgiven by the Creator Lord Himself? The re-minted soul, the forgiven counterfeit, is not merely restored to its old face value — its worth becomes beyond all reckoning. The fake made genuine by grace is more precious than a coin that was never tested at all.
If even a 'counterfeit' heart can be re-minted genuine, what part of yourself might you stop writing off as beyond change?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI