Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Sing the praises of the One, the Lord of the Universe.
Let my one tongue become two hundred thousand tongues. With all of them I will meditate on the One, Har, Har, and chant the Guru's Shabad.
O One, please, please be kind to me.
Praise for the One is so big that one tongue feels too small; you wish for a huge chorus of them.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the centre of the shabad. Har gun gaavhu jagdees means "sing the praises of the Lord of the Universe."
Aykaa jeeh keechai lakh bees means "let my one tongue become hundreds of thousands." A lakh is a hundred thousand. Think of a stadium full of people all singing the same song. Thanks this big outruns a single voice. Har ho ho kirpees means "O One, please, please be kind."
What are you so thankful for that you wish you had a hundred voices to say it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI