Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Wasted: ears that feast on gossip about others. Wasted: hands that take what is not theirs.
Wasted: eyes that stare at what belongs to another. Wasted: a tongue that lives only for tastes.
Wasted: feet that hurry toward harming someone. Wasted: a mind that circles other people's wealth. Wasted: a body that never does good for others.
Wasted: a nose tuned to what is rotten. Without understanding, everything is wasted. Nanak says: fruitful is the body - any body - that takes up the Name.
The same eyes, hands, and feet can be wasted or fruitful. It depends on what they are used for.
The last verse called the world's things passing. This one checks the body itself, part by part. Ears, hands, eyes, tongue, feet, mind, body, nose. Each is called mithi-aa, false or wasted, not for existing but for how it is used.
The ears are wasted on gossip about others. The eyes are wasted on wanting what belongs to someone else. The feet are wasted running to do harm. Each body part is a good tool booked for the wrong job. Think of a hammer. It can build a treehouse or break a window. The hammer is the same.
One line stands apart. Mithi-aa tan nahee par-upkaaraa — false is the body that does no good for others. It is the only one judged not for what it does, but for what it leaves undone. Kindness held back is also a kind of falseness.
The closing names what decides it. Bin boojhay mithi-aa sabh bha-ay — without understanding, everything is wasted. The same body, living with understanding, becomes fruitful. Safal dayh naanak har har naam la-ay — fruitful is the body that takes up the Name. The tool was never the problem. The direction was.
Pick one - your eyes, ears, hands or feet - and ask honestly: what do they spend most of their day doing?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI