Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
This singer makes five good qualities, like contentment, into musical instruments, and plays seven notes of love for the One.
The tune they play is letting go of pride and the hunger for power, and their feet keep the beat on the honest path.
They never go round the circle of being born again, for they keep the one Word, the Shabad, tied to the hem of their robe, like a treasure they will never lose.
The best music is made from good qualities, not just from instruments.
Panch baajitar karay santokhaa means "he makes five virtues, like contentment, his instruments." Santokh means contentment, feeling that what you have is enough. Saat suraa are the seven notes of a scale. Here the seven notes are love.
The tune itself is setting down pride and power. The feet keep the beat by walking on the straight, honest path.
Think of a band. The best bands are not the ones with the most expensive guitars. They are the ones where the players listen to each other and play together. Good qualities are what make a life sound good.
Ayk sabad bandh paalai means "he ties the one Word to the hem of his robe." Sabad (Shabad) is the Guru's Word. In old times, people tied their most precious things into the corner of their cloth so they would not lose them. Such a person does not keep going round the circle of birth and death again.
Which "good note" — patience, contentment, honesty — could you practice today?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI