Sikhism·Raag Maale Gaorhaa·Raag Maale-Gaorhaa, Shabad 1
Verse 1 of 5

None Can Find the Limit, So I Bow

ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ ਮਹਲਾ ੪
raag maalee ga-urhaa mehlaa 4
Raag Maalee Gauraa, Fourth Mehl:
ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ik-oNkaar sat naam kartaa purakh nirbha-o nirvair akaal moorat ajoonee saibhaN gur parsaad.
One Universal Creator God. Truth Is The Name. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying. Beyond Birth. Self-Existent. By Guru's Grace:
ਅਨਿਕ ਜਤਨ ਕਰਿ ਰਹੇ ਹਰਿ ਅੰਤੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਪਾਇਆ ॥
anik jatan kar rahay har ant naahee paa-i-aa.
Countless have tried, but none have found the Lord's limit.
ਹਰਿ ਅਗਮ ਅਗਮ ਅਗਾਧਿ ਬੋਧਿ ਆਦੇਸੁ ਹਰਿ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਰਾਇਆ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
har agam agam agaaDh boDh aadays har parabh raa-i-aa. ||1|| rahaa-o.
The Lord is inaccessible, unapproachable and unfathomable; I humbly bow to the Lord God, my King. ||1||Pause||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

There is only One. Its Name is Truth. It is the Creator of all. It is fearless and full of love, beyond time, never born, shining on its own. And the One is found by the Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.

Countless people have gone looking for where the One ends — and no one has ever found an edge.

So high, so deep, so far beyond my reaching. And still I bow, quietly and gladly, to the One I cannot measure.

You do not have to measure the mystery to bow to it in wonder.
The deeper layer

This opens Raag Maalee Gauraa, a bright raag built around raam naam — the loving repetition of the Name. The rahao (the refrain, the line held onto through the whole song) says the One is agam, agaadh, apaar — unreachable, unfathomable, boundless — and the honest response is not frustration but a bow. Awe is enough; you do not have to conquer the mystery to love it.

A Question to Sit With

When have you felt awe at something far too big to fully understand?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

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