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
Look at everything: lands, oceans, worlds, the long ages of time. Each age gets its own lamp, passed hand to hand. The fire of life in every heart belongs to the One, and living right keeps order. The earth is one big pot, and everyone gets a share. Still you keep wanting more, and greed shuts you in a dark room. What you own can start beating on you. Good or bad, you are held in the One's gaze. Names change, rulers change, greetings and clothes change. The same One stays. People everywhere bow and sing praise. Pilgrimage and charity earn a day's wage. One moment remembering the Naam brings greatness. At the centre, the Rahao: all of this runs on the One's power.
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; one Source behind every faith's name (the Primal One is what Muslims call Allah); the Naam that outshines outer ritual. The shabad is set in Guru Nanak's own turbulent time of invasion and shifting rule.
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's promise holds: the same One is the endless spring beneath every shifting season of history.
Hukumnama
Subject: Everything runs on the One's power Preview: four lamps for four ages, the earth a cooking pot, greed a dark cell, new names and blue robes, one moment
Today: Look at everything: lands, oceans, worlds, the long ages of time. Each age gets its own lamp, passed hand to hand. The fire of life in every heart belongs to the One, and living right keeps order. The earth is one big pot, and everyone gets a share. Still you keep wanting more, and greed shuts you in a dark room. What you own can start beating on you. Good or bad, you are held in the One's gaze. Names change, rulers change, greetings and clothes change. The same One stays. People everywhere bow and sing praise. Pilgrimage and charity earn a day's wage. One moment remembering the Naam brings greatness.
All of this runs on the One's power.
For today: Pick one minute today, set everything down, and remember the One.
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
Look at everything: lands, oceans, worlds, the long ages of time. Each age gets its own lamp, passed hand to hand. The fire of life in every heart belongs to the One, and living right keeps order. The earth is one big pot, and everyone gets a share. Still you keep wanting more, and greed shuts you in a dark room. What you own can start beating on you. Good or bad, you are held in the One's gaze. Names change, rulers change, greetings and clothes change. The same One stays. People everywhere bow and sing praise. Pilgrimage and charity earn a day's wage. One moment remembering the Naam brings greatness. At the centre, the Rahao: all of this runs on the One's power.
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; one Source behind every faith's name (the Primal One is what Muslims call Allah); the Naam that outshines outer ritual. The shabad is set in Guru Nanak's own turbulent time of invasion and shifting rule.
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's promise holds: the same One is the endless spring beneath every shifting season of history.
Hukumnama
Subject: Everything runs on the One's power Preview: four lamps for four ages, the earth a cooking pot, greed a dark cell, new names and blue robes, one moment
Today: Look at everything: lands, oceans, worlds, the long ages of time. Each age gets its own lamp, passed hand to hand. The fire of life in every heart belongs to the One, and living right keeps order. The earth is one big pot, and everyone gets a share. Still you keep wanting more, and greed shuts you in a dark room. What you own can start beating on you. Good or bad, you are held in the One's gaze. Names change, rulers change, greetings and clothes change. The same One stays. People everywhere bow and sing praise. Pilgrimage and charity earn a day's wage. One moment remembering the Naam brings greatness.
All of this runs on the One's power.
For today: Pick one minute today, set everything down, and remember the One.