Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is only One. And the One is found by the True Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.
You rub sweet sandalwood oil on your body and place holy basil leaves on your forehead.
But in the hand of your heart, you hold a knife.
You look like a cheat. You stand still as if lost in prayer, like a crane at the water's edge, waiting to snatch a fish.
You try to look like a Vaishnav, a devoted follower of Vishnu, but the breath of life slips away through your mouth.
Looking holy on the outside is not the same as being good inside.
This shabad is by Bhagat Beni, a devotee whose words are in the Guru Granth Sahib. He holds up a mirror. Tan chandan mastak paatee: sandalwood on the body, and holy basil (tulsi) leaves on the forehead. These are signs of a Vaishnav, a devotee of Vishnu. Beni lived inside this world of devotion himself. He is not attacking it from outside. He is showing what happens when the costume of devotion is mistaken for devotion.
Rid antar kar tal kaatee: yet the heart holds a knife. Then comes the key picture, the crane: thag disat bagaa liv laagaa. A crane (bagaa) stands very still at the water's edge, like someone lost in prayer. But its stillness is a hunter's patience. It is waiting for a fish. Thag, a cheat, does not point at some other group of people. It names the self-fooling: still on the outside, hungry on the inside.
Daykh baisno paraan mukh bhaagaa: you dress up as a Vaishnav, yet the breath of life runs out through your mouth, spent on the show.
Is there a place where what you show others does not quite match what you feel inside?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI