Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You worship a stone and paint the marks of Ganesha.
You stay awake all night, putting on a show of worship.
Your feet dance, but your mind is set on doing wrong.
You who chase whatever you crave — this dance has no goodness in it.
You can do every act of worship and still have your heart somewhere else.
Sil poojas chakar ganaysaN: worshiping at a sacred stone and painting the marks of Ganesha. Nis jaagas: staying awake all night in worship. Pag naachas: dancing with the feet. For many people these are sincere and loving ways to worship. Beni's quarrel is never with the forms themselves.
His quarrel is with doing them while the mind is set on doing wrong: chit akarmaN. Lampat is someone who chases whatever they crave, and aDharmaN means without goodness. The dancing feet and the absent heart are the whole picture. It is like singing in a choir while texting behind your music. The grander the outside show, the emptier it becomes when the inside is turned away.
When have you done the right thing on the outside while your heart was somewhere else?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI