You search everywhere for the One who cannot be figured out — and find at last that the One is beyond every rank, both deep inside you and all around.
The Arc
A seeker's shabad. It opens with the wanderer searching woods and open places for the One who cannot be tricked or figured out. The Rahau aches to see the One, calling even a dream of nearness sweeter than waking. The verses find the One beyond every social rank and beyond form itself, note how rare are those who can describe the One, and close with the discovery that the One is both within and all around — met when one's deeds ripen.
Key Vocabulary
khojat khojat: searching, searching — the seeker's wandering
baran aasram: caste and life-stage — the One is beyond them
virlay jogeesur: rare are those who can describe the One
so antar so baahray: the One within and all around
Themes and Cross-Connections
Caste-leveling is explicit: the One has no rank and no shape, standing beyond the books that sort people. And the resolution — the One is within and without — is the seeker's discovery that the search ends closest to home.
For Raag Bilaaval
Bilaaval carries the seeker's longing and its bright resolution: what is searched for everywhere turns out to be nearest of all.
Translation Notes
Baran aasram saastar names the varna (caste) and ashram (life-stage) teachings of the old texts. The shabad's own move is to place the formless One beyond all such ranking; that caste-leveling is foregrounded in the children's text rather than the ranking itself.
You search everywhere for the One who cannot be figured out — and find at last that the One is beyond every rank, both deep inside you and all around.
The Arc
A seeker's shabad. It opens with the wanderer searching woods and open places for the One who cannot be tricked or figured out. The Rahau aches to see the One, calling even a dream of nearness sweeter than waking. The verses find the One beyond every social rank and beyond form itself, note how rare are those who can describe the One, and close with the discovery that the One is both within and all around — met when one's deeds ripen.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Caste-leveling is explicit: the One has no rank and no shape, standing beyond the books that sort people. And the resolution — the One is within and without — is the seeker's discovery that the search ends closest to home.
For Raag Bilaaval
Bilaaval carries the seeker's longing and its bright resolution: what is searched for everywhere turns out to be nearest of all.
Translation Notes
Baran aasram saastar names the varna (caste) and ashram (life-stage) teachings of the old texts. The shabad's own move is to place the formless One beyond all such ranking; that caste-leveling is foregrounded in the children's text rather than the ranking itself.
Last updated: 2026-07-08