Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Picture a plate set with three precious things — the true nourishment of the One.
Eat this, and the heart is finally satisfied; a door swings open to real freedom.
This food is rare and hard to find — you come to it by thinking deeply on the teaching.
So why would we ever push this treasure out of mind? Keep it tucked close in your heart always.
The True Guru set this riddle, and the Guru's Sikhs searched and found its answer.
Nanak says: whoever the One helps to understand, understands.
The food that fills the heart for good is set before you like a riddle.
A famous and much-loved shalok of Guru Amar Das, built as a mudaavanee — a riddle-dish, the kind traditionally set before guests to solve. Three things are placed on the plate as the soul's true food; the classic reading names them the divine qualities one 'eats' to be satisfied (variously given as truth, contentment, and contemplation). Eating this rare food (ih bhojan alabh hai) satisfies the heart and opens mokh du-aar, the door of freedom. The teaching for a child is playful and deep at once: some of the best nourishment comes as a riddle you keep turning over in your heart — and the answer is given to the one who is ready to receive it (jis bujhaa-ay so bujhsee). The same riddle-form later becomes the very seal of the Guru Granth Sahib, the closing Mundaavanee.
What is a question or idea you like to keep turning over in your mind, even without a quick answer?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI