Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One does everything Himself, and He also makes everything else happen — nothing is outside Him. It is through the **shabad**, the Word of the Perfect Guru, that we finally meet Him. O Nanak, says Guru Amar Das, the only true greatness comes through the **Naam**, the living presence of the One. And in the end, He Himself joins us back into His own oneness.
This last verse says the One does it all, and real greatness is a soul at rest in the One.
It gathers the whole song into one calm line. Aap karay tai aap karaa-ay means "He Himself does, and He Himself makes things happen." This is where all the "He does it all" of the earlier verses lands. Not as a cold idea, but as the deepest rest. If the One is the true doer behind everything, then the tiring job of the separate self can finally be put down: managing, earning, proving, controlling. It is like finally setting down a heavy backpack you forgot you were carrying. This is the peace the bargaining mind of the verse before could never reach.
The bridge is named again. Pooray gur kai sabad milaa-ay means "through the Word of the perfect Guru, He is met." All through this Ashtapadee, this eight-verse song, the shabad, the Guru's Word, has been the steady tool. It melted the ego. It carried grace. And now it is the doorway to meeting. For Guru Amar Das, the Word is the light inside. When it sounds within, the bride's long sleep ends.
And the true reward is named one last time. Naanak naam milai vadi-aa-ee means "Nanak says, through the Name, greatness is received." Vadi-aa-ee means greatness. Not the world's greatness of status and applause, but the real dignity of a soul filled with the living One.
The last words, aapay mayl milaavani-aa, "He Himself joins us in His union," close the circle this whole song has been drawing. The bride is awake. The account is forgiven. The two have become One. The longing of Raag Maajh ends not in a reward that was earned, but in a homecoming that was always being offered.
What burden are you carrying as if everything depends on you alone — and what would it feel like to trust that you're held by something larger?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI