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Sikhism·Raag Aasaa·Shabad 313
Verse 2 of 4

Too Vast to Contain, Yet Inside Every Heart

ਤੂੰ ਆਦਿ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਅਪਰੰਪਰੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਤੇਰਾ ਪਾਰੁ ਨ ਪਾਇਆ ਜਾਇ ਜੀਉ ॥
tooN aad purakh aprampar kartaa tayraa paar na paa-i-aa jaa-ay jee-o.
You, O Lord, O Primal Being, are the Limitless Creator; Your limits cannot be found.
ਤੂੰ ਘਟ ਘਟ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਸਰਬ ਨਿਰੰਤਰਿ ਸਭ ਮਹਿ ਰਹਿਆ ਸਮਾਇ ਜੀਉ ॥
tooN ghat ghat antar sarab nirantar sabh meh rahi-aa samaa-ay jee-o.
You are pervading and permeating each and every heart, everywhere, You are contained in all.
ਘਟ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਪਾਰਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਪਰਮੇਸਰੁ ਤਾ ਕਾ ਅੰਤੁ ਨ ਪਾਇਆ ॥
ghat antar paarbarahm parmaysar taa kaa ant na paa-i-aa.
Within the heart is the Transcendent, Supreme Lord God, whose limits cannot be found.
ਤਿਸੁ ਰੂਪੁ ਨ ਰੇਖ ਅਦਿਸਟੁ ਅਗੋਚਰੁ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਅਲਖੁ ਲਖਾਇਆ ॥
tis roop na raykh adisat agochar gurmukh alakh lakhaa-i-aa.
He has no form or shape; He is unseen and unknown. The Gurmukh sees the unseen Lord.
ਸਦਾ ਅਨੰਦਿ ਰਹੈ ਦਿਨੁ ਰਾਤੀ ਸਹਜੇ ਨਾਮਿ ਸਮਾਇ ਜੀਉ ॥
sadaa anand rahai din raatee sehjay naam samaa-ay jee-o.
He remains in continual ecstasy, day and night, and is spontaneously absorbed into the Naam.
ਤੂੰ ਆਦਿ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਅਪਰੰਪਰੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਤੇਰਾ ਪਾਰੁ ਨ ਪਾਇਆ ਜਾਇ ਜੀਉ ॥੨॥
tooN aad purakh aprampar kartaa tayraa paar na paa-i-aa jaa-ay jee-o. ||2||
You, O Lord, O Primal Being, are the Limitless Creator; Your limits cannot be found. ||2||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

You have no edges, no limits — and yet You live inside every single heart, everywhere.

You can't be seen with the eyes, but a heart turned toward You sees the unseen — and lives in quiet, steady joy.

The One is too vast to contain and yet lives inside every heart — the infinite and the intimate at once.
The deeper layer

This one says the One is too big to hold, and yet lives inside every heart.

Those two things sound like opposites. The verse holds them together. The One is aprampar, beyond every limit. And the One is ghat ghat antar, inside each and every heart. The endless and the close-by are the same presence.

Think of the sun. It is huge and far away, yet its warmth is right here on your arm. The One has no form and can't be seen with the eyes. But gurmukh alakh lakhaa-i-aa — the person who faces the Guru sees the unseen. This is a kind of seeing that doesn't use the eyes. It is noticing that the One is here.

Whoever lives that way stays in joy din raatee, day and night. It is a quiet, steady joy. It does not depend on things going well.

A Question to Sit With

How can something feel both far bigger than you and closer than your own heartbeat?

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

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