Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Hail to You, O Father of us all — hail to You!
O Primal One, Your limits cannot be known. You create and create, and You behold what You have made.
This one is about holding on to the One even when nothing makes sense.
Aadays baabaa aadays — I bow to You, Father, I bow to You. Aad purakh tayraa ant na paa-i-aa — First One, no one can find Your limits.
This is the "rahaa-o," the pause line, the center of the hymn. It is a shout of praise, right in the middle of terrible harm.
It does not mean the harm was good. It means Guru Nanak will not let go of the One, even when the One is hardest to understand. He is like Job in the Bible, who also brought his pain straight to God instead of walking away. The sadness and the praise sit together. One does not erase the other.
Kar kar daykheh vays — You make and make, and You watch it all. This works two ways. It is trust that nothing goes unseen. It is also a question placed in the One's hands: You are watching. You see what we see.
When you are upset with a parent, you might still run to them and say, "Why did this happen?" You go to them, not away. That is what this line does.
Can a person praise and grieve at the same time?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI