Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is only One. And the One is found by the True Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.
I sing of the One in this bright, glad tune, and something inside me comes alive.
When I listen to the Guru's teaching and let it live in me, it feels like the moment I was born for.
All day and all night the praise keeps rising in me, and my heart stays gently tied to the One.
My whole body and mind feel fresh again, the way a garden bursts open in spring.
The darkness of not-understanding lifts, because the lamp of the Guru's wisdom is lit inside me.
Nanak says: I live by seeing the One. One glimpse, for a single moment, and I feel fully alive.
Bilaaval is the raag of brightness and joy -- a morning-colored tune. This opening shalok is Guru Ram Das's own, and it sets the whole ballad's key: real joy is not the sweetness of the music but the One the music is pointing at. Hariaa baag (the blossoming garden) is the image of a mind that has come alive; gi-aan charaag (the lamp of wisdom) is the light that clears agi-aan (not-yet-understanding). The closing longing -- to behold the One's face for even ik nimakh (an instant) -- is the note the entire Vaar will keep returning to.
When have you felt something inside you come alive, like a garden opening up?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI