One power set the whole world turning and lights each age in its turn — and beneath every name and every era stands the same undivided One.
The Arc
The shabad moves from the sweep of creation (v1) to the rahau single claim — such is Your power — and then through the world drawn as a royal household (the fire in every heart, dharam the chieftain, the earth a great cooking-pot), the trap of endless wanting, the humbling truth that we all live inside the One gaze, the arrival of a new era with a new name for the One (Allah), the honest picture of a changing world, the King before whom all four directions bow, and finally the Name that outshines pilgrimage and charity. It is set in Guru Nanak own turbulent time of invasion and shifting rule.
Key Vocabulary
sakat (power, shakti); Madhusudan and Madho (older names for the Divine); dharam (righteous living); deg (great cooking-pot); saaboor (contentment); lab (greed); Aad purakh (the Primal Being); Allah; banvaaree (Gardener of the world); Naam; gharhee (a short measure of time).
Themes and Cross-Connections
Everything runs on one power; contentment versus greed; the divine gaze that misses no one; interfaith oneness (the Primal One is what Muslims call Allah); the Name that outshines outer ritual.
For Raag Basant
This is a Basant Hindol shabad — a blend of the bright spring raag with Hindol. Even here, shadowed by invasion and change, Basant promise holds: the same One is the endless spring beneath every shifting season of history.
Translation Notes
Form and author confirmed from the header (basant hindol mehlaa 1 ghar 2). INTERFAITH CARE FLAGGED: Pauris 5-6 name Allah, the Shaykhs, Muslim prayer, prayer mats and greetings; rendered evenhandedly as the same One appearing under a new name and in a new era, never as complaint. Pauri 3 dungeon/shackle imagery softened to being weighed down and trapped by wanting. Pauri 8 literal reads oddly (do bring any profit); read per tradition as a small daily wage set against the Name greatness — literal text left untouched.
One power set the whole world turning and lights each age in its turn — and beneath every name and every era stands the same undivided One.
The Arc
The shabad moves from the sweep of creation (v1) to the rahau single claim — such is Your power — and then through the world drawn as a royal household (the fire in every heart, dharam the chieftain, the earth a great cooking-pot), the trap of endless wanting, the humbling truth that we all live inside the One gaze, the arrival of a new era with a new name for the One (Allah), the honest picture of a changing world, the King before whom all four directions bow, and finally the Name that outshines pilgrimage and charity. It is set in Guru Nanak own turbulent time of invasion and shifting rule.
Key Vocabulary
sakat (power, shakti); Madhusudan and Madho (older names for the Divine); dharam (righteous living); deg (great cooking-pot); saaboor (contentment); lab (greed); Aad purakh (the Primal Being); Allah; banvaaree (Gardener of the world); Naam; gharhee (a short measure of time).
Themes and Cross-Connections
Everything runs on one power; contentment versus greed; the divine gaze that misses no one; interfaith oneness (the Primal One is what Muslims call Allah); the Name that outshines outer ritual.
For Raag Basant
This is a Basant Hindol shabad — a blend of the bright spring raag with Hindol. Even here, shadowed by invasion and change, Basant promise holds: the same One is the endless spring beneath every shifting season of history.
Translation Notes
Form and author confirmed from the header (basant hindol mehlaa 1 ghar 2). INTERFAITH CARE FLAGGED: Pauris 5-6 name Allah, the Shaykhs, Muslim prayer, prayer mats and greetings; rendered evenhandedly as the same One appearing under a new name and in a new era, never as complaint. Pauri 3 dungeon/shackle imagery softened to being weighed down and trapped by wanting. Pauri 8 literal reads oddly (do bring any profit); read per tradition as a small daily wage set against the Name greatness — literal text left untouched.
Last updated: 2026-07-10