Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
How is what is wrong in you cleared away? How is the true way to live found? What good is piercing your ears, or eating food you have begged for?
Through all that is and all that is not, there is only the Name of the One. What is that Word that holds the heart steady in its place?
When you look on sunshine and shade alike, Nanak says, then the Guru will speak to you.
Students follow the six schools of thought. They are neither people of the world nor people who have let go.
Someone who stays absorbed in the Formless One, why would they go out begging?
Pierced ears and the begging bowl do not clear away what is wrong; only the Name of the One runs through all existence. The sign of arrival is a steady heart that looks alike on sunshine and shade. That is sahaj, the poise that stays even through pleasure and pain. One absorbed in the Formless (nirankaar) has no need to beg.
This First Mehl shalok closes the yogi dialogue. The six systems are the six classical schools of Indian philosophy; their students are pictured as caught halfway, neither at home in the world nor free of it.
What helps you stay steady whether the day brings sunshine or shade?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI