Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Nanak says: I seek the company of the lowest of the low. I stay with the ones the world ignores, the ones at the very bottom. Why should I try to compete with the great?
Because in the place where the lowly are cared for — that is where the real blessings live.
Here Guru Nanak says he chooses to stand with the people everyone else looks down on.
Neechaa andar neech jaat: "the lowest among those called low." In Guru Nanak's time, people were sorted into groups by birth, called jaat or caste. Some were treated as high and some as low. Power, rank and religious say-so all sat together at the top.
Guru Nanak turned that upside down. He ate with people others would not eat with. He sat with people others pushed away. This isn't pretend modesty. It was how he lived.
Picture a lunchroom. The popular kids sit at one table. One kid sits alone. Guru Nanak is the one who picks up his tray and sits next to that kid.
Jithai neech samaalee-an tithai nadar tayree bakhsees: "Where the lowly are cared for, there Your kind glance and gifts rain down." Nadar means the One's loving look.
So where is the One most present? Right there, where people who are left out are cared for. More than in grand buildings or royal courts, the One is found at the edges.
Have you ever been in a place where you felt like an outsider, or where the 'important people' didn't notice you? How did that feel — and who did show up?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI