Devotion Is True Words Living in the Heart, Not Just on Lips
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Real devotion grows when the true words live in my heart, not just on my lips.
As I serve and listen, a lasting calm settles in, and the grasping ego melts into the song.
Without that wisdom I can wander lost even in a crowd — thirsty though surrounded, restless though nothing is really wrong.
This one says real devotion is true words living in the heart, not just on the lips. The shabad is written in chau-tukay, stanzas of four lines. Its main note is sachee hirdai banee — the true Word held in the heart. Banee means the Guru's words. Devotion here is something you live, not something you put on for show. It is like the difference between saying "sorry" and really meaning it.
Ha-umai sabad samaanee — the ego dissolves into the Word. Ha-umai means ego, the grabby "me, me" voice. It doesn't get crushed. It melts into the song, like sugar in warm milk.
Then the verse talks about the manmukh, someone who follows only their own wants. It pictures them as sinking where there isn't even any water. It means being lost and restless: thirsty in the middle of plenty, even when nothing is really wrong.
What's something you know by heart, not just in your head?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI