Sikhism·Raag Aasaa·Shabad 298
Verse 3 of 36

The One There First Is the Only Fully Real Thing

ਈਵੜੀ ਆਦਿ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਹੈ ਦਾਤਾ ਆਪੇ ਸਚਾ ਸੋਈ ॥
eevrhee aad purakh hai daataa aapay sachaa so-ee.
Eevree: The Primal Lord is the Giver; He alone is True.
ਏਨਾ ਅਖਰਾ ਮਹਿ ਜੋ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਬੂਝੈ ਤਿਸੁ ਸਿਰਿ ਲੇਖੁ ਨ ਹੋਈ ॥੨॥
aynaa akhraa meh jo gurmukh boojhai tis sir laykh na ho-ee. ||2||
No accounting is due from the Gurmukh who understands the Lord through these letters. ||2||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

The One who was there before anything else is the Great Giver, and only that One is truly real.

The person who learns to see the One even in the shapes of the letters owes nothing to anyone.

The One who was there first is the only thing that is fully real — everything else is passing through.
The deeper layer

The letter Eevri teaches that the Primal One (aad) is the Giver — and saach, the only thing finally real. Everything else comes and goes; the Source stays. The lovely closing turn fits the alphabet-poem perfectly: the Gurmukh (one who faces the Guru) reads the very letters and finds the One hidden inside them — and so 'owes no account.' A heart that sees the Giver everywhere, even in a child's ABCs, is already free.

A Question to Sit With

Can you find something wonderful hidden inside an ordinary, everyday thing?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

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