Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You are so high and so vast that no one could ever count all Your good qualities. And the wonderful thing is what happens to people around You: those who sing of You are carried home, and those who only listen are carried home too.
Even the roughest hearts, even the most lost, even the ones everybody else has given up on — You lift them all. Not one person is too far gone for You. Nanak says: I come to Your shelter, and I give myself to You, again and again.
No one is too far gone to be lifted.
Ooch apaar bay-ant — the One is high, beyond compare, without end. No one could count all those good qualities.
Then comes a double rescue. Gaavtay uDhrahi suntay uDhrahi — those who sing are carried across, and those who only listen are carried across too. Just hearing is enough to begin.
Next the verse gives a surprising list: beasts, ghosts, fools, even stones are ferried over. A stone cannot swim, yet even the stone gets across. That is Guru Arjan's way of saying no one is left out. Think of a school bus that stops at every single house on the road.
Balihaarai means giving yourself over in thanks, again and again.
Is there anyone you have quietly decided is too far gone? What if no one is?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI