The Teacher Is an Evergreen Tree

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

This gentle, beautiful shalok pictures the Guru as a living tree, and every part of the tree is a spiritual quality. The Guru is the tree of contentment — its very trunk and roots are santokh, the deep contentment that the whole Vaar holds up as the cure for craving. Its flowers are faith, and its fruits are spiritual wisdom. A tree's flowers come before its fruit; so faith blossoms first, and from faith ripens the fruit of gian, real understanding. Faith is not the opposite of wisdom here but its flower — the bloom that precedes and produces the fruit.

And what keeps this tree alive? Watered with the Lord's Love, it remains forever green. A tree cut off from water withers; this tree, watered by love of the One, never browns or dies — it is evergreen, alive in every season. And it ripens through the karma of good deeds and meditation — good living and quiet remembrance are the sun and time that bring its fruit to ripeness. Notice how naturally the image holds together: contentment as the tree, faith as its flowers, wisdom as its fruit, love as its water, good deeds and meditation as its ripening.

The shalok ends at the table: honor is obtained by eating this tasty dish; of all gifts, this is the greatest gift. The fruit of this tree is not for display but for eating — for taking in, being nourished by, becoming. And to eat it is to receive honor, and the greatest gift of all. Set against everything the world calls a great gift — wealth, power, fame — the fruit of the Guru-tree is named the greatest, because it alone feeds the soul into contentment, faith, and wisdom. The teacher, in this image, is not a stern authority but a generous tree: rooted in contentment, flowering in faith, fruiting in wisdom, evergreen with love, offering its sweetest fruit freely to whoever will come and eat.