Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You love your children and your family and call them your very own.
Nanak says: hold, too, the Name of the One, for that is the ground your whole life stands on.
Love your family with all your heart, and hold the One too, because the One is the ground under everything.
This is a Dakhanay shalok, a short verse in a southern Punjabi way of speaking. Mayree mayree ki-aa karahi — "Why keep saying mine, mine?" It is talking about a person's children and wife.
This is not against loving family. Gurbani honors family life. It gently adds something. Under all the people we love is a deeper ground, the One. Without the Name, it says, the body has no base to stand on.
Think of a strong tree with many branches. The branches are the people we love. The roots are the One. The branches are beautiful, and the roots help them stay. So it is "and also," not "instead of."
Who are the people you call your own?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI