Savaiye in praise of Guru Ram Das, Verse 16 — glass turning to gold at a touch
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I give my whole self, again and again, to the True Naam, my True Guru.
What praise can I give you? What service can I offer? I have only one mouth and one tongue. With my palms pressed together, I sing to you with joy.
In thought, word and deed, I know the One and worship no other. The Guru has set the endless, precious Naam in my heart.
Nal the poet says: at the touch of the paaras stone, glass turns to gold, and sandalwood gives its fragrance to the trees around it. Remembering the One, I am changed too.
Seeing his door, I am free of craving and anger. I give my whole self, again and again, to the True Naam, my True Guru.
Giving your whole self to the True Naam changes you, the way the paaras stone turns glass to gold.
The bard is Nal. Ha-o bal bal jaa-o, I am a sacrifice, is the language of complete devotion: glad self-giving. The two pictures, paaras (glass to gold) and chandnaa (sandalwood spreading its scent), run through these Savaiye: you slowly become what you keep close.
Who or what have you grown beside long enough that you started to resemble it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI