Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Real, real, real — truly real is that One. Forever, forever, and forever, it simply is — it has always been itself, all on its own. Your playful wonders are everywhere, out in the open for all to see, my Beloved. And just looking at them, Nanak is overjoyed, lit up with delight.
The shabad closes by anchoring everything in the One's reality and eternity, then bursting into delight. Sat sat sat prabhu soee — "sat (true, real), true, true is that One." The threefold repetition of sat is emphatic, almost a drumbeat: real, real, real. Sat is one of the deepest words in the tradition — it means not just "factually correct" but real, genuine, permanent, enduring, as opposed to jhooth (the false, the fading). The One is sat — the only thing that is fully, permanently real, while everything else (status, ego, the world's prizes) is kachaa, passing. Three times the seeker insists on it, as if to steady herself on the one solid ground.
And the One's eternity: sadaa sadaa sad aape hoee — "sadaa sadaa sad (forever, forever, always) it is aape hoee — self-existent, being itself on its own." Another threefold repetition (sadaa sadaa sad), this time of foreverness. The One does not depend on anything to exist; it simply is, of itself, eternally (recall sambhau, self-existent, Shabad 14). It was never made and will never end. The reality that is sat is also sadaa — the truly real is the truly permanent.
And then, from this rock-solid foundation, joy erupts: chalit tumaare pragat piaare, dekh Naanak bhae nihaalaa — "your chalit (playful wonders, marvelous deeds) are pragat (manifest, out in the open), O piaare (Beloved); dekh (beholding) them, Nanak bhae nihaalaa (became enraptured, overjoyed, lit up with bliss)." Notice the lovely turn. The One is sat (utterly real) and sadaa (eternal) — and its chalit, its playful marvels (the khel of Shabad 7, Shabad 29), are not hidden but pragat, right out in the open, plain for anyone to see. The eternal, permanent One plays visibly in the world, and just looking at this play — the wonder of existence itself — fills the seeker with rapture. This is Waheguru as the project understands it: not a deity's name but the exclamation of awe and wonder (Wahe!) at the marvels of the One, plainly visible everywhere. The arc completes: hearing of the One keeps her alive (Rahao); singing greens and listening cleans, sustained by the company (P1); breath-by-breath remembrance and inner light come by grace (P2); and finally, resting on the One that is real-real-real and forever-forever, she simply beholds its open play and is overcome with wonder (P3). Signed with the lineage's name, Nanak. The eternal Real is also the playful Beloved, and beholding it is pure joy.
The seeker is overjoyed just by "looking at" the wonders of the One, which are out in the open everywhere. When have you been struck with wonder simply by looking at something — a sky, a creature, a moment? Could that be a kind of beholding the One?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI