Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One is right there in the home, along with all the sacred figures people keep.
People tend those figures with great care. They wash them, offer flowers and sweet-smelling things, and bow low again and again, trying hard to please them. They ask others again and again for food and clothes to keep it all going.
But if all that effort skips over the heart, a person goes through the motions without ever meeting the living One. Deeds done without seeing only lead to more not-seeing.
A statue on a shelf cannot feed a hungry child or comfort someone who is suffering. People who cannot see just argue with others who cannot see.
Worship without the heart is empty, in any tradition.
It is a shalok, a short verse, by Guru Nanak. He describes someone who keeps statues of gods at home. They wash them, offer saffron, sandalwood, and flowers, and bow again and again. They even ask others for food and clothes to keep it all going.
The verse is not attacking a faith or its people. It is pointing at something that can happen in any tradition: going through the motions while the heart is somewhere else. Andhee kammee means "blind deeds," deeds done without seeing. The verse says blind deeds lead only to more blindness.
A statue cannot feed the hungry or comfort the one who is dying. So the point was never the ritual itself. A ritual is like a cup. It is meant to carry love and awareness. Think of saying "sorry" while rolling your eyes. The word is there, but the heart is missing. Other verses in this Vaar, this long song, make the same point: what counts is what is inside.
Have you ever done something the right way but forgotten why you were doing it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI