Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Someone who follows the way shown by a blind guide is blind too.
Nanak asks: why should someone who can see get lost?
Do not call people blind who have no eyes in their face.
Nanak says: the blind are those who wander away from their Master.
The blindness that matters is on the inside. It means wandering away from the One.
Andhay kai raahi dasi-ai andhaa ho-ay so jaa-ay means "the one who follows the way shown by someone who cannot see goes the same lost way." If you can see for yourself, why get lost?
Then comes a very kind line. Andhay ayhi na aakhee-an jin mukh lo-in naahi means "do not call them blind who have no eyes in their face." The verse protects people whose eyes do not work. It will not let them be used as a put-down.
Andhay say-ee naankaa khasmahu ghuthay jaahi means "the blind ones, Nanak, are those who wander away from their Master." Think of a phone's map app that is switched off while you walk around a new city. Your eyes work fine, but you still get lost. Turning away from the One is like that. Even inside a picture, the Guru guards every person's dignity.
Where do you see clearly with your eyes but miss what matters?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI