Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The truest food there is, is love of the One — so the teacher says. Fed on that food, I am full; filled with truth, I am glad.
Wherever a person rests in the true home of their own self, that place — town or village — becomes true. When the teacher is pleased, you receive the Name, and your whole self blossoms in its love.
No one slips into the One's court by faking it; lies only lose you the Mansion. But nothing can block the one who carries the banner of the Word — hearing, understanding, and speaking truth, that soul is called home.
This Pauree opens with a lovely image that answers a hunger the next shalok will name directly: the True Food is the Love of the Lord. The deepest hunger in a human being is not for bread but for the One — and the food that fills it is love of the One. With this True Food, I am satisfied, and with the Truth, I am delighted. The soul fed on love and truth is full in a way no meal can manage; the restless seeking quiets into satisfaction and delight.
From this inner fullness, something interesting happens to place: true are the cities and the villages, where one abides in the True Home of the self. When a person rests in nij ghar, the true home of their own being, then wherever they physically are — city or village — becomes true. Holiness is not in the geography; it is carried by the soul that dwells in its own true center. The home you live in is your own being, rightly inhabited; and then every outer place partakes of that truth. And this homecoming is grace: when the True Guru is pleased, one receives the Lord's Name, and blossoms forth in His Love — the soul opening like a flower in the warmth of the Name.
The Pauree closes with the Vaar's steady refrain about the Court of Truth, now with a heroic image fitting a war-ballad. No one enters the Court of the True Lord through falsehood; lies lose you the Mansion. But no one blocks the way of those who are blessed with the Banner of the True Word of the Shabad. The soul that carries the Shabad like a banner held high — marching under the colors of truth — cannot be stopped at any gate; hearing, understanding and speaking Truth, one is called to the Mansion. The path home is barred to falsehood and wide open to truth: take in the truth (hearing), let it land (understanding), and live it out loud (speaking), and the One's own Mansion calls you in.
What 'food' have you been trying to satisfy a deeper hunger with — and what might it mean to be fed by love and truth instead?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI