Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You belong to all of us — you are everyone's father, everyone's at once. Your storehouse of treasures never runs out, no matter how much you give. And whoever you give to is finally full, finally content, the way you feel after a big meal when you don't need anything more. Those are the ones who become truly yours.
This pauri opens the divine outward, from the personal Beloved of the first shabad to the saajhaa — the shared, common father of all. Toon saajhaa saahib baap hamaaraa — "you are the shared Master, our Father." The One is not anyone's private possession; it belongs equally to everyone. This is a profound social and spiritual teaching: the same source fathers all beings, which means all beings are, at root, one family.
The image of abundance is the nau nidh (the nine treasures of legend) and the akhut bhandaaraa — the inexhaustible storehouse. Unlike worldly wealth, which shrinks as you give it, the divine's storehouse never empties. This is the nature of the daataaraa (Giver) named in the previous pauri: a generosity that giving never depletes. Love, attention, presence — the real treasures — multiply rather than diminish when shared.
The closing line defines contentment: jis toon dehi so tripat aghaavai — "those you give to are tripat aghaavai, satisfied and full." True fullness is not getting more; it is being given by the One until the wanting itself stops. And such a person soee bhagat tumaaraa — "becomes your devotee." Note the order: the giving comes first, and devotion follows from being filled. We do not earn the gift by being devotees; we become devotees by being filled with the gift. This is grace again — recognition flowing from what is freely given.
Some things shrink when you give them away, and some things grow. Can you name something that only grows the more you share it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI