Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One looks after every living being, the way a mother watches over her children, never taking her eyes off them. The One breaks apart your pain, is an ocean of peace, and feeds every creature there is.
The image here is one of the tenderest in all of Gurbani: ji-o baarik maataa sammaaray — "as a mother cares for her child." The divine is not pictured as a distant king or a stern judge but as a mother, attentive, protective, watching over each small one. This matters in a project teaching children: the One is not someone to fear but someone who holds you the way you have already been held.
Two great titles follow. Dukh bhanjan — "the breaker of pain" — and sukh saagar — "the ocean of peace." Pain is something that gets shattered; peace is not a trickle but an entire ocean. And the stanza closes on the recurring note of Guru Arjan's Maajh shabads: dayt sagal aahaaray — "gives food to all." This is the vision of abundance again — a universe that feeds every creature, withholding from none. The mother who watches over her children does not feed only the favored ones.
Can you remember a time you were cared for so closely you didn't even have to ask — and could you offer that kind of attention to someone smaller than you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI