Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Sometimes we dance and dance; sometimes we sleep for days.
Sometimes we are terrifying in our anger; sometimes we are the gentle dust of everyone's feet.
Sometimes we sit like kings; sometimes we wear the beggar's coat. Sometimes our name is mud; sometimes we are praised as very, very good.
As the One keeps us, so we remain. Nanak says: it is by the Guru's grace that this truth can even be told.
The same soul wears many costumes, so never write anyone off.
The kabhoo, "sometimes," list grows from moods to roles. Sometimes dancing, sometimes asleep day and night. Sometimes raging, sometimes humble as the dust of everyone's feet. kabhoo ho-ay bahai bad raajaa — sometimes sitting as a great king. Then the beggar's coat. Sometimes a bad name, sometimes called very, very good.
One being passes through all of it. So every judgment we make about people becomes less solid. Today's bad name and tomorrow's praise can belong to the same person. Think of seeing one frame of a movie. You cannot know the whole story from one frame. Gurbani warns elsewhere, too, against writing anyone off.
ji-o parabh raakhai tiv hee rahai — as the One keeps them, so they stay. Under all the costume changes, there is one Keeper.
The last line adds something easy to miss: gur parsaad naanak sach kahai — by the Guru's grace, the truth is told. Even seeing the play clearly is part of the play. It is a gift from beyond it. No one climbs out of the theater to report on it. The report itself is mercy.
Think of your worst day and your best day. Were you a different person - or the same person in different weather?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI