Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Listen, my friend: the shiny things people chase — money, stuff, the wealth of the world — none of it travels with you. Everyone gets dazzled by it, and only a rare person really sees through the trick.
So here is a better kind of business. Make your days your shop, and let the Name be the goods you trade in. Make your quiet thinking and attention your storeroom, and keep the Name safe inside it.
Trade with people who are honest and true. Earn that kind of profit — and your heart will laugh with joy.
This one says the shiny things of the world stay behind, so trade in something that keeps its worth.
Now the farm turns into a shop. Guru Nanak loved pictures from everyday work. This part opens with the rahaa-o, the "pause" line. It is the center of the whole shabad, the line to stop and think about.
It begins, "O Baba," a warm way of saying "friend." Then: baabaa maa-i-aa saath na ho-ay, "friend, Maya does not go with you." Maya is not something evil. It means the glittering, passing things of the world. They look solid, but they slip through your fingers like sand. Everyone gets dazzled, and only a few see the trick.
So what is the better business? Your aarjaa, your lifetime, is the shop. It gets a little shorter every day. Your understanding is the storeroom. And the Name is the one product that never loses its value. Think of game coins that vanish when the game ends, while what you learned stays with you.
The last line is full of joy: lai laahaa man has, "earn the profit, and let your mind laugh." This is not a gloomy lesson. Real wealth makes the heart light.
What is something you value that no one could ever take away from you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI