Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
No one calls clarified butter or silk impure.
Just so is the One's devotee, whatever their social rank. Those who bow to the Name stay soaked in Your love; Nanak begs for charity at their door.
This one says: love for the One makes a person honored, whatever family they were born into.
In Nanak's time, people were sorted by caste, a rank you got at birth. Some people were called "unclean" just because of their family. But everyone agreed some things stayed pure, no matter who touched them. Ghi-a pat — ghee, which is clarified butter, and silk. No one called those dirty.
Nanak says a person who loves the One is just like that. Aisaa bhagat varan meh ho-ay — such is the devotee, whatever their rank. Think of a gold medal. It shines the same in a mansion or in a small flat. Birth cannot make a loving person less.
Then Nanak takes the lowest place himself. Naanak tin dar bheekhi-aa paa-ay — Nanak begs at the door of such people. Love levels everyone, and even the greatest bow to it.
Whose worth might you be underrating because of their 'rank' or background? What if devotion outranks all of that?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI