Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Coming into this life without ever understanding what it's for is a wasted trip. Piling on ornaments and decorations then is like dressing up a body that has no life in it.
Some people scrape and strain just to pile up money and things. They never share any of it, never help, never sit with the wise. In the end, all that wealth does them no real good at all.
This one is about a life lived only on the outside. It gives two pictures.
The first is jolting: ji-o mirtak odhaa-i-o — like dressing up a dead body. It's meant to wake us, not scare us. It points at putting all our care into how things look, while the inside never comes alive. This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line — the center of the shabad.
The second picture is the kirpan, the miser — someone who hoards money. The point is careful. Having money isn't wrong. But money that is only piled up, never given, never used to help, just sits there. It does nothing for the heart that gathered it. Think of a phone full of apps you never open: lots of stuff, no use.
The dressed-up body and the unshared pile are the same emptiness twice. Pretty or heavy on the outside. Lifeless within.
What's something that looks impressive on the outside but feels empty when there's nothing real behind it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI