Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The pleasures of other clothes — the ones you wear to impress, to signal status, to perform — are false.
Wearing them, the body is actually harmed. Wickedness and corruption find their way in through what you project instead of what you are.
The clothes that actually matter are what you wear on the inside.
Second rahao. The instruction here parallels the first: false clothing (worn for ego, for show) corrupts the body and mind. The genuine garment is satgur ki sewa — alignment with the teaching.
In Guru Nanak's time, religious garb was a major social marker — Brahmins wore sacred threads, Muslim clerics wore particular robes, ascetics wore specific dress. He is consistently skeptical of any external garment that replaces internal authenticity.
Is there a version of yourself you perform for others that doesn't feel quite like the real you? What would it be like to drop that?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI