Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
What good quality could I sing, that would truly be worthy of You? What words could I possibly say that would gladden the One who is beyond all limits?
This is the rahaa-o, the pause line. It is the center of the shabad, the line to stop and think about. The questions keep coming.
Kavan gun jo tujh lai gaava-o — what good quality of Yours can I sing? Kavan bol paarbarahm reejhaava-o — what words could please the Boundless One? Paarbarahm means the One beyond every limit.
There is a lovely humility here. The seeker feels their praise and their words are too small for Someone so vast. It is like making a birthday card for someone you love, and worrying it is not good enough.
But look at the wish itself: reejhaava-o, to please, to delight, to make glad. That wish shows the heart already points the right way. It only doubts itself. The end of the shabad answers that doubt gently.
Have you ever wanted so much to do something well for someone that you worried you'd get it wrong?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI