Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Let a mind turned away from grabbing at the world be your begging bowl, and let the lessons of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, and sky) be your cap.
Let your body be your meditation mat, and your mind your simple cloth.
Let truth, contentment, and self-control walk beside you as friends.
Nanak says: the one who faces the Guru keeps the Naam in mind.
Oondha-o khapar, the inverted begging bowl, is a mind turned away from craving. Every prop of the yogi is re-read as an inner quality: the body becomes the meditation mat, the mind the simple cloth. The companions who count are virtues: sat (truth), santokh (contentment), sanjam (self-discipline).
Which of these three would you most like walking beside you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI