Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Choose your company with care, O Beloved: some company slowly pulls your heart away from the One.
Spend enough time there, and you forget what matters most, and leave feeling smaller.
A heart with no anchor finds no rest anywhere.
But when you keep the company of the teaching, your tangles quietly sort themselves out.
This one says: choose friends who help you remember what matters.
Saakat sang na keej-ee — don't keep close company with the saakat. A saakat is someone turned away from the One. This is wisdom about influence, not a reason to look down on anyone. Think of a friend who always talks you into skipping practice. After a while you stop going, and you feel worse for it.
The verse says such company can leave you with muhi kaalai, a darkened face. That is an old way of saying you leave embarrassed and small. A manmukh, someone who follows only their own wants, finds no rest anywhere.
The other side is bright. For those shaped by the Teacher's company, tinaa pooree paa-ay: their tangles get sorted out. Good company makes everything easier.
Who brings out your best self, and who pulls you off track?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI