I have only one tongue — which of Your countless gifts could I name? Moment by moment You cherish me, and I am Your child.
The Arc
This tender shabad is pure relationship. It opens with the One as Giver and Cherisher who cares moment by moment, and the seeker as a child leaning wholly on that care. The Rahao voices the overflow of gratitude — one tongue, endless gifts. The verses rest the seeker's hope not on their own merit but on the One's innate loving nature, and the shabad closes naming the One as truest friend and safest home.
Key Vocabulary
daatay / partipaalak: Giver / Cherisher
nimakh nimakh: moment by moment
ham baarik: I am Your child
baysumaar bay-ant: beyond measure, endless
birad: innate loving nature
sajan suhaylay: the friend who brings ease
Themes and Cross-Connections
The plea grounded in the One's birad — its own loving nature — rather than the seeker's worthiness is the heart of the project's grace lens (philosophy.md): grace is not earned but flows from what the Giver is. The parent-and-child and best-friend imagery continues this set's signature intimacy (see 1417, 1424), and the overflowing gratitude of 'one tongue, endless gifts' is the natural response to a love that cannot be measured.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
Dhanaasaree's reaching becomes, here, a child's easy leaning: the One longed for is already the nearest friend and the safest home, cherishing moment by moment.
Translation Notes
The literal's closing image, 'Nanak is the slave of Your home' (ghar kay golay), is rendered as 'I belong to Your household,' keeping the intimacy and belonging while setting aside the language of slavery for young readers.
I have only one tongue — which of Your countless gifts could I name? Moment by moment You cherish me, and I am Your child.
The Arc
This tender shabad is pure relationship. It opens with the One as Giver and Cherisher who cares moment by moment, and the seeker as a child leaning wholly on that care. The Rahao voices the overflow of gratitude — one tongue, endless gifts. The verses rest the seeker's hope not on their own merit but on the One's innate loving nature, and the shabad closes naming the One as truest friend and safest home.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The plea grounded in the One's birad — its own loving nature — rather than the seeker's worthiness is the heart of the project's grace lens (philosophy.md): grace is not earned but flows from what the Giver is. The parent-and-child and best-friend imagery continues this set's signature intimacy (see 1417, 1424), and the overflowing gratitude of 'one tongue, endless gifts' is the natural response to a love that cannot be measured.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
Dhanaasaree's reaching becomes, here, a child's easy leaning: the One longed for is already the nearest friend and the safest home, cherishing moment by moment.
Translation Notes
The literal's closing image, 'Nanak is the slave of Your home' (ghar kay golay), is rendered as 'I belong to Your household,' keeping the intimacy and belonging while setting aside the language of slavery for young readers.