Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some wives give up their own lives at their husbands' funerals.
If they knew and loved their husbands, the loss already hurts them through and through.
Nanak says: if they never knew their husbands, why give up their lives at all?
Whether the husband is living or gone, such wives stay far away from him.
Love is shown by knowing someone deeply, more than by any outward act.
This is Guru Amar Das's third short verse about the old custom of satee. He looks at it very plainly. jay jaaneh pir aapnaa — if a wife truly knew her husband, the loss already hurts her deeply. If she never truly knew him, the act proves nothing at all.
The last line sums it up. Whether the husband is alive or gone, the ones who never came close stay far away.
So what counts is inside. It is knowing the one you love, and staying close in your heart, near or far. Think of two friends in different cities who talk every week. They are close. Love never asks anyone to be hurt to prove it.
How can you tell the difference between showing love and performing it for others to see?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI