ਬਗੁਲਾ ਕਾਗ ਨੀਚ ਕੀ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਜਾਇ ਕਰੰਗ ਬਿਖੂ ਮੁਖਿ ਲਾਈਐ ॥
bagulaa kaag neech kee sangat jaa-ay karang bikhoo mukh laa-ee-ai.
Associating with the wretched and the lowly, like the stork and the crow, is like feeding on a carcass of poison.
ਨਾਨਕ ਮੇਲਿ ਮੇਲਿ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਮਿਲਿ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਹੰਸੁ ਕਰਾਈਐ ॥੪॥੪॥
naanak mayl mayl parabh sangat mil sangat hans karaa-ee-ai. ||4||4||
Nanak: O God, unite me with the Sangat, the Congregation. United with the Sangat, I will become a swan. ||4||4||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Keeping low companions, like the heron and the crow, is like feeding on a poisoned carcass.
Nanak prays: O One, bring me into the Sangat. Joining the Sangat, I will become a swan.
The company you keep can change what you become — choose the company that makes you a swan.
The heron and crow stand against the hans, the swan — in Indic imagery the pure being who can separate milk from water and lives on pearls. “Low company” means the downward pull of companions, not a judgment of anyone’s worth. The promise is transformation: the Sangat, people gathered together to remember the One, reshapes you, until a heron’s heart becomes a swan’s.
A Question to Sit With
Which friends bring out your best self?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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