Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You are my father, and you are my mother. You are my family, and you are my brother. You are the one who watches over me and keeps me safe, everywhere — in every place, at every moment. So tell me — what is there left to be afraid of? What is there to worry about?
This is one of the most beloved verses in the entire Guru Granth Sahib — recited by Sikh families in times of trouble, illness, and fear. Its power is its simplicity. The One is named as every relationship that protects and loves: pitaa (father), maataa (mother), bandhap (relative/kin), bhraataa (brother). Whatever role in your life makes you feel held, loved, and safe — the One is that role, completely. You are never an orphan. You are never without family. The One is all your loved ones at once.
And crucially: toon meraa raakhaa sabhnee thaaee — "you are my raakhaa (protector, keeper) in sabhnee thaaee (all places, everywhere)." Not just at home, not just in safe situations — everywhere. There is no place, no moment, no circumstance where the protecting One is absent.
From this follows the shabad's famous closing question: taa bhau kehaa kaarhaa — "then what bhau (fear), what kaarhaa (anxiety, dread) is there?" The answer is none. Fear grows from the feeling of being alone, exposed, unprotected — the experience of haumai (separate self) cut off from the whole. But if your father, mother, kin, brother, and protector are all the same One, and that One is everywhere with you — the very ground of fear dissolves. This Rahao sets the entire shabad's key: perfect security in the all-encompassing love of the One, and the falling away of fear that follows.
This verse says the One is every relationship that loves and protects you, everywhere you go. When you feel scared or alone, what would it be like to really know you are never without family?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI