To Know the One Is to Have Served and Tasted

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

To really know the One is not about having the right ideas. It is about serving with love and tasting how sweet He is.

Aapay gur daataa karam biDhaataa — the Guru Himself is the daataa (Giver) and the karam biDhaataa, the One who shapes each person's path. So even our coming to know Him is not all our own doing. The One who shapes the path is the One who led us to serve in the first place. The first verse said it: He sets us to serving. The Giver even gives us the power to receive.

Sayvak sayveh gurmukh har jaataa — humble servants who serve, facing the Guru, come to know the One. Jaataa means truly known, known from the inside. And notice who comes to know. Not the cleverest. Not the most learned. An earlier shabad spoke of a scholar who read until he was tired and still never tasted it. It is the ones who serve with humble love who come to know.

Knowing the One is less like solving a math problem and more like getting to know a friend. You do it by being close, by caring, and by spending time together.

Then come two gifts. Amrit naam sadaa jan soheh — these people are always beautiful in the amrit (sweet, life-giving nectar) of the Name. Soheh means shining with a beauty that comes from inside.

Gurmat har ras paavni-aa — through the Guru's teaching, they receive the ras of the One. Ras means flavor, the sweet taste of something. Another shabad in this raag calls it the greatest taste of all. They do not just know facts about the One. They have tasted Him.

Think of the difference between reading a recipe and eating the meal. So the verse gives a new meaning to "knowing God." It means serving humbly, tasting the sweetness, and being made lovely by it. The knowing is a taste on the tongue and a glow on the face. And it comes through the Giver who shapes our path and the Guru's teaching that helps us taste.