Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I won't stand above anyone and call myself good, and I won't look down and call anyone bad.
With a humble heart I ask only this: the One carries us all across, together.
This last line takes away the ladder of better and worse.
Ham nahee changay buraa nahee ko-ay — I am not good, and no one is bad. Guru Nanak isn't saying goodness doesn't matter. He is saying: I won't stand on top of anyone, and I won't look down on anyone.
Then paranvat naanak — Nanak prays humbly — that the One alone carries everyone across. Picture a whole class crossing a river in one boat. Nobody gets across by being the best swimmer. The boat carries all of them together. That is humility. It means we stop judging others, and we stop ranking ourselves too.
What would change if you stopped sorting people into good and bad?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI