Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
We are very good at talking — but our actions are bad. Inside, we are dark and impure. Outside, we try to appear white and clean.
We imitate those who genuinely stand and serve at the Lord's Door — we look like them on the outside.
Those who truly serve are attuned to the Lord's love. They experience what that love actually feels like.
They stay humble even when they have power. They stay meek even when they could be proud.
Nanak says: our lives become genuinely worthwhile when we spend time with people like that.
The gap between speech and action
Bolan sarīkā ho'ā, karnī kahā vichāri — "we are good at talking, but our actions are bad." Guru Nanak opens with a confession that is also a universal diagnosis. The gap between what we say (about the spiritual life, about values, about the Lord) and what we do is the central failure of religious life. The text is speaking in first person plural: we. Not "they." This is a self-diagnosis.
"Outwardly white, inwardly dark"
Mann kāle mukh ujle, ḏhā'ī — "mentally, we are impure and black, but outwardly, we appear white." The color imagery: outward whiteness as moral performance, inward darkness as the actual state. The imitation of genuine devotion is a form of this: looking like those who serve, without the inner orientation that makes the service real.
The genuine servant's paradox
Nīche rahan bale bal hoe — "they remain powerless, even while they have power; they remain humble and meek." The genuine servant's defining characteristic is that having power does not inflate them. Having influence, resources, status — none of it changes the fundamental orientation of humility. This is the mark of the genuinely transformed person: not that they have achieved a performance of humility but that power doesn't move them toward pride.
"Our lives become profitable if we associate with them"
Nānak lābhvandā sāth — "our lives become profitable if we associate with them." The instruction: spend time with genuinely transformed people. The profit accrues by proximity to the real.
*Think of someone you know whose actions consistently match their words about what matters to them. What is it like to spend time with that person?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI