Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
No matter how much you dress up on the outside, real purity only comes from taking the Word to heart.
A person may decorate themselves in every possible way. If they never learn to love what is truly precious, all that fuss is empty.
Someone who does not know the worth of the Beloved, and stays busy chasing shiny distractions, has missed the one thing that mattered.
No amount of dressing up can take the place of a loving heart.
Bin sabdai suDh na hova-ee means without the Word, there is no real purity. Jay anayk karai seegaar: even with every kind of seegaar, jewelry and decoration. Think of wrapping an empty box in the most beautiful paper. It looks wonderful, but there is nothing inside.
The verse uses the old picture of a bride who decorates herself but does not know the worth of her Beloved. It ends with a very harsh line about her. The point is not about women, or about any person at all. It is about where our attention goes. Doojai bhaa-ay pi-aar means loving what passes away instead of what is real. Outer show without inner love is empty, for anyone.
Have you ever noticed that the people you admire most aren't the ones who look the fanciest, but the ones who are kind? Why do you think that is?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI