Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
One single Light shines in everyone and everything — but only a rare person truly knows this. When you serve the True Teacher, that Light becomes visible to you. It's everywhere: in what's hidden and in what's right out in the open. And the little light inside you merges back into the great Light, like a flame returning to the fire.
This verse says one single Light shines in everyone, and our small light joins back into that great Light.
The verse before said the One has no form. This verse says what the One is instead: jot, Light. Sabh aykaa jot — one Light in all. The One is not an empty nothing. The One is a Light burning in every being. The light in you, in your friend, in someone you don't get along with, and in a stranger — it is the same Light in different lamps. This is Ik Onkar, the One in all, glowing: not many separate sparks, but one fire showing through countless windows.
The verse is honest: jaanai jay ko-ee — only a rare person truly knows this. It is easy to say, "We are all one." It is harder to see the same Light in the kid who annoys you. That seeing comes satgur sayvi-ai pargat ho-ee — by serving the True Guru, the Light becomes clear. The Light was always there. Gupat pargat vartai sabh thaa-ee — it fills every place, hidden and open. The Guru just helps us see it. Think of sunlight outside a room with the curtains closed. Open them, and the room is full of light. The light did not arrive. We just could not see it before.
Then comes a homecoming: jotee jot milaavani-aa — light merges into Light. When the seeing happens, the small "my light" joins the great Light it always belonged to. Picture a candle flame held to a campfire. For a moment you can still say "that little flame." But really it has become the fire. This is what union means in the Sikh way. It is not a reward handed down by a faraway God. It is the small light seeing it was never apart from the Light, and joining back in. There were never two flames. There was only ever one.
Could you look at someone you find difficult and try to see "the same Light" burning in them that's in you? What would change?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI