Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One is the magic touch, the plain metal, and the gold it becomes — all at once.
The One is the master and the servant and the gentle un-doer of every mistake.
The One delights quietly in every heart and understands everything.
No amount of praise could ever be enough for such a Giver of peace.
The aapay litany gives the alchemy image: the One is "the Philosopher's Stone, and the metal, and the gold it turns into." The paaras (Philosopher's Stone) was said to turn base metal to gold at a touch — here the One is the transformer, the raw material, and the finished gold. It's a picture of transformation in which nothing is foreign to the One: the plain metal of an ordinary heart and the gold it can become are both already the One. "He breaks the bonds of the Gurmukhs" — the transformation is a freeing. And Guru Amar Das ends humbly: "I am not satisfied by merely praising You" — no praise is enough.
What ordinary thing about you might quietly be turning into 'gold' as you grow?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI