Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Some people leave the One, the Giver, to chase other things.
Nanak says: such a person never succeeds. Without the Naam, honor is lost.
Turn from the Giver to chase the gifts, and in the end nothing works out.
This short opening verse is a salok. It opens the fifth ashtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib. An ashtapadee is a set of eight verses. Daynhaar parabh chhod kai laageh aan su-aa-ay — leaving God the Giver, people cling to other things. Daynhaar means the Giver.
Naanak kahoo na seejh-ee bin naavai pat jaa-ay — O Nanak, such a person never succeeds, and without the Name, honor is lost. This works like gravity. It is not that the One punishes. It is that everything apart from the Source is downstream, and it does not last. Think of a stream cut off from its spring. It flows for a while, and then it runs dry.
The word pat means honor. What is finally lost is not things. It is standing, the weight and worth of a life.
The eight verses that follow look at many kinds of this misplaced clinging. There is the one who sulks over a single gift held back. There is the one angry at the Banker. There is the one in love with a tree's passing shade. And there are the long lists of things that pass away.
Have you ever wanted a thing so much that you forgot the person who gives you everything?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI