Savaiye in praise of Guru Ram Das, Verse 1 — the Guru fills the empty pools
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is only One. And the One is found by the True Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.
With my whole mind I keep the pure Creator in mind. By the Guru's grace, I sing the praises of the One, always.
Singing those praises, my mind opens like a flower. The True Guru fulfills the hopes of the One's people.
Serving the True Guru, I have reached the highest state. I keep in mind the One who never dies and cannot be seen.
Whoever meets the Guru is free of poverty. Kal Sahaar says: I sing his praises.
I sing the pure praises of that humble one who has been blessed with the sweet nectar of the Naam.
He served the True Guru and tasted the sweetness of the Word. He keeps the pure Naam in his heart.
He loves the taste of the Naam and gathers the good qualities of the Lord of the World. He seeks what is true, and he is a fountain of fairness to all.
Kal the poet says: Guru Ram Das, son of Har Das, fills the empty pools until they overflow.
Guru Ram Das fills people up the way rain fills an empty pond.
The refrain is gur raamdaas sar abhar bharay: Guru Ram Das fills the empty pools until they overflow. It comes back at the end of the first verses, like a drumbeat.
The picture is the monsoon. Rain does not bring anything strange to a dry pond. It fills a space that was already there, waiting. In the same way, the Guru fills a space you already have.
The verse names param pad, the highest state. It calls the One abhinaasee abigat, never ending and never fully seen. The doorway to all this is a person: Guru Ram Das, the son of Har Das. The light of the One passes through people.
The bard is Kal, also called Kal Sahaar, one of the bhatts, poets who sang the praise of the Gurus.
Who in your life has filled up something that felt empty in you, just by being near?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI