ਨਿਰਧਨੁ (nirdhan)
Meaning: noun: Poor, having little money or no money.
Quote:
ਕਹਿ ਕਬੀਰ ਨਿਰਧਨੁ ਹੈ ਸੋਈ॥ ਜਾ ਕੇ ਹਿਰਦੈ ਨਾਮੁ ਨ ਹੋਈ॥
kahi kabeer nirdhan hai soee. jaa ke hirdai naam na hoee.
Kabeer says that poor is one who does not enshrine the Name of the Divine in one’s heart.
– Bhagat Kabeer, Guru Granth Sahib, Page 1159
Message: Often, we gauge and measure a person by how much wealth and success he or she possesses. Gurbani however says that the poor is one in whose heart divinity or goodness is absent. Conversely the rich is someone who lives by practising truth and goodness while engrossed in the daily actions and interactions of the world.
Hence Kabeer says one who does not have divine consciousness in his heart is poor. Worldly wealth is transient and is left behind when one departs from this world. Secondly as much material wealth one may gather, one is never satisfied. The mind is always hungry and continues craving for more and more. It is the wealth of divine knowledge and values, which when acquired, truly enriches us.
Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual. ― Socrates
Etymology: From Sanskrit nirdhan (poor).
