Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Make good deeds the soil. Let the word of the teaching be the seed. Water it every day with the water of truth.
Be this kind of farmer, and faith will sprout. This is how you learn what matters, you fool.
This one is another farming picture, with a twist: good deeds are the soil, and the Guru's Word is the seed.
In the shabad just before this, the body was the field and good actions were the seed. Here Guru Nanak switches things around. Amal kar dhartee: make good deeds the soil. Beej sabdo kar: let the Shabad, the Guru's Word, be the seed. Sach kee aab nit deh paanee: water it every day with the water of Truth.
This small change matters. Good deeds don't make the big understanding grow by themselves. They get the ground ready for it. You can't earn it by doing good things. But it can't grow in ground no one has cared for, either. You need both the ready ground and the seed. It's like a class garden: the kids dig and water, but the seed itself is a gift from the teacher.
Ho-ay kirsaan eemaan jammaa-ay: be that kind of farmer, and eemaan will sprout. Eemaan means faith, deep trust. What grows isn't facts or being sure. It's a living, real trust. Bhisat dojak moorhay ayv jaanee: this is how you come to know heaven and hell, you fool!
What do you think comes first — being a good person, or having genuine faith? Can one exist without the other?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI