Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The treasure you came into this whole life to find — that sweet nectar — is right there with the teacher.
So set down the costumes, the disguises, the clever little tricks. A divided heart, half here and half performing, never grows this fruit.
The opening names the whole purpose of a life — jis jal nidh kaaran tum jag aa-ay, "the treasure you came into the world for" — and says it is amrit gur paahee, "the nectar is with the teacher." Then the honest instruction: drop the vays bhaykh chaturaa-ee — costumes, religious disguises, cleverness. Dubidhaa (double-mindedness, a divided heart) is what blocks the fruit. This is Nanak's steady preference for the real over the performed — and note it targets pretense in general, including religious pretense, not any particular tradition.
When do you feel like you're 'performing' instead of just being yourself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI