The Closing Saloks, Savaiye in Praise of Guru Amar Das (the bard Keerat)
The formless One took a shape you could sit beside — a lamp lit for all.
The Arc
A single verse: the Formless takes form and lights the realms; the Lamp of the Shabad is lit; whoever gathers the essence merges in the One; and that light comes into Nanak’s pure house through Angad and Amar Das. It closes with the wish to stay always near.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The theme is the One made accessible — Nirankaar becoming a lamp anyone can see by. The line naanak kul nimmal avtaryio expresses the one-Jot succession, a light passed on.
Translation Notes
The word rendered “reincarnated” in some translations is handled as the one light passing through the succession, not as literal rebirth or any fear attached to it.
Nirankaar is glossed as the formless One taking a form you can learn from.
The formless One took a shape you could sit beside — a lamp lit for all.
The Arc
A single verse: the Formless takes form and lights the realms; the Lamp of the Shabad is lit; whoever gathers the essence merges in the One; and that light comes into Nanak’s pure house through Angad and Amar Das. It closes with the wish to stay always near.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The theme is the One made accessible — Nirankaar becoming a lamp anyone can see by. The line naanak kul nimmal avtaryio expresses the one-Jot succession, a light passed on.
Translation Notes