Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Kind One, gentle with everyone who feels small: be kind to me too. Let my heart become humble enough to sit at the feet of good and wise people and learn.
The One is formless — and also every form you see. It is beyond all qualities — and also carries every quality. Call it One, and only One. And yet the One shows up as the many.
This commentary carries a Rahaao (Pause) line before its Shalok — a prayer that sets the tone: deen dayaalaa, "merciful to the meek," and the wish to become ravaalaa, the dust of the Saints' feet. In this project's lens, this is not self-erasure but the melting of ego (haumai) — becoming humble enough to actually receive. Then the Shalok holds together what usually seems like a contradiction: the One is nirankaar (formless) and aakaar (form); nirgun (beyond all qualities) and sargun (full of qualities); ayk (one) and anayk (many). This is the heart of the oneness teaching — the formless and the world of forms are not two different things. The same ocean is both the still deep and every wave.
Can two things that seem like opposites both be true at the same time? Where have you seen that?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI