Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Wash the feet of the good and drink that water - hold nothing of yourself back from them.
Bathe in the dust of their feet; hand your life over to their way.
The chance to serve them comes by deep good fortune. In their company the praise is sung, and every kind of danger loses its way to you. Singing, you taste the essence.
We have come to their door for shelter - and every comfort came with the arriving.
The deepest bow belongs to goodness, not to power.
The pictures here may surprise you. Charan saaDh kay Dho-ay Dho-ay pee-o — wash the feet of the good, and drink that water. Bathe in the dust of their feet. It helps to know the world these words came from. People touched each other's feet to show rank, and the low bowed to the high. Gurbani takes that same gesture and points it at one thing only: goodness itself.
So this is not bowing to power. Gurbani never asks for that. It is the body saying what the ego finds hardest to say: "What you carry matters more than what I carry."
The middle of the pauri is the practical part. In the saaDhsang, the company of the good, keertan, songs of praise, are sung. Anik bighan tay saaDhoo raakhai — the good one keeps you safe from many dangers. That company is a shelter, like a warm house in a storm, not just a ceremony.
The last lines finish Sukhmani's picture of a welcoming home. You come to the door looking for protection. Along with it, you receive every comfort.
What would it mean to honor goodness itself more than strength, fame or wealth - starting with how you treat good people?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI