Sikhism·Raag Aasaa·Shabad 298
Verse 10 of 36

Across All History, One Life Has Played Every Part

ਚਚੈ ਚਾਰਿ ਵੇਦ ਜਿਨਿ ਸਾਜੇ ਚਾਰੇ ਖਾਣੀ ਚਾਰਿ ਜੁਗਾ ॥
chachai chaar vayd jin saajay chaaray khaanee chaar jugaa.
Chacha: He created the four Vedas, the four sources of creation, and the four ages
ਜੁਗੁ ਜੁਗੁ ਜੋਗੀ ਖਾਣੀ ਭੋਗੀ ਪੜਿਆ ਪੰਡਿਤੁ ਆਪਿ ਥੀਆ ॥੯॥
jug jug jogee khaanee bhogee parhi-aa pandit aap thee-aa. ||9||
- through each and every age, He Himself has been the Yogi, the enjoyer, the Pandit and the scholar. ||9||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

The One made everything — all the old holy books, all the ways life begins, all the ages of time.

And in every single age, that same One was quietly there, playing every part.

Across all of history and every kind of person, one Life has been quietly playing every part.
The deeper layer

The letter Chacha opens onto vastness across time: the One made the four Vedas, the four sources of life, the four ages — and then the astonishing claim, aap beechaaraa — through every age He Himself was the Yogi, the enjoyer, the scholar, all of them. There is only one actor wearing every costume. This is the poem's non-dual heart: the diversity you see — sages and seekers and ordinary folk across all of history — is one Life playing all the roles. Nobody is outside it.

A Question to Sit With

If the same light is inside everyone, how does that change how you see a stranger?

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

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