Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The very same gold can be shaped into a thousand different ornaments: bracelets, rings, chains. Yet it is all still gold.
Just so, the One has shaped this whole many-colored creation.
The Teacher scattered my confusion. Now I see that every separate-looking thing is really one. My own being has melted into the One, like gold into gold.
All the many things in the world are made of one thing, the way many ornaments are made of one gold.
Guru Arjan ends with a goldsmith. Aykai kanik anik bhaat saajee — one gold, shaped in many ways. A ring, a bracelet and a chain all look different. Melt them down, and it is the same gold. In the same way, all the many things around us do not argue against the One. They are the One, showing up in many shapes.
Bharam gur kho-ee — the Teacher cleared away my doubt. Iv tatai tat milaa-i-o — and so my essence joined the One's essence. Your deepest self meets the One like gold melting into gold.
Teachers of Gurbani often read this gold picture as a window onto Ik Onkar, the One who is in everything. It shows that all our differences need not stand in the way of a deep bond with the One.
Can you think of one material that gets made into dozens of completely different things?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI