Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is only the one Beloved — and all of us are the souls who belong to it. The one who pleases the Beloved is the fortunate one.
What can helpless Nanak do? However the One wishes, that is how he walks.
The shabad widens from "my Beloved" to the Beloved — and in doing so quietly erases every rivalry. If there is only one Beloved and we are all its souls, then there is no competition for love; there is enough for everyone, because there is only One doing the loving. The soul-bride image is the poem's vehicle: the soul longing for its Source. And the closing line is Hukam: "however the One wishes, that is how he walks." This is not defeat. It is the deep relief of stopping the fight — of letting the current carry you instead of forever swimming upstream.
If everyone is loved by the same One, is there really anything to compete over?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI