Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The sweet smell of the sandalwood tree drifts out and clings to the other trees of the forest.
The One, the Source of everything, is like that sandalwood tree. The One turns us plain wooden trees into fragrant sandalwood too.
Stay near the One, and the plain wood in you turns fragrant.
Baavan beekhoo is the sandalwood tree. Its sweet smell, its baas, drifts out to the trees around it. Namdev says the One is that fragrant tree, the aad, the Source of everything. Kaasat chandan bhai-ilaa means "plain wood becomes sandalwood."
The change comes from nearness. Think of a sweater that smells of wood smoke after an evening by the campfire. You did nothing but sit close.
Who makes you a little kinder just by being near them?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI