Draw near to the One, and you find you were already being held close — as a child is held by a parent.
The Arc
Guru Ram Das closes his Raamkalee set on the Great Giver who places the One in the heart, and on a closeness that runs both ways: as near to you as you are to it.
Verse 1 (P0): the teacher, a great Giver, places the One in the heart and gives back soul-life.
The Rahau (P1): the Name kept close to the heart; blessed is my fortune.
Verse 2 (P2): even the many gods cannot reach the edge of the One; small hands ask only for pleasures.
Verse 3 (P3): praise held in the heart is the boat that carries you across the ocean of life.
Verse 4 (P4): the close — near and near; father, mother, child; the One cherishes me.
Key Vocabulary
satgur daataa — the Guru as Giver; the gift is soul-life (jee-a daan).
kanth dhaaray — worn close, like a treasured necklace at the throat.
kot kot tetees — the traditional host of gods, who still cannot fathom the One’s limit.
bhaujal — the world-ocean of existence — softened here from “terrifying” to “wide.”
nikat nikat — near, near — the closeness that runs both ways.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The closing shabad answers the whole set’s longing. Where earlier verses reached for the One, this one reveals that the reaching was already met: nikat nikat, the One is as near to you as you are to it. The gods, for all their meditation, cannot find its edge — yet it holds the humble lover clasped to its heart. Grandeur and tenderness in the same breath, ending, as the set always meant to, in father, mother, child.
For Raag Raamkalee
This closes Guru Ram Das’s Raamkalee compositions (the set-total ||18|| marks the seal). It brings the raag of world-renouncing yogis to rest not in a far attainment but in the nearest thing of all — being cherished as a child, held close by the One who is beyond even the gods.
Translation Notes
330 million gods rendered respectfully (P2):kot kot tetees — the traditional host of deities — is treated with respect, not mockery; the point is the One’s boundlessness, which exceeds every named god.
“begging for women / lust” softened (P2): the literal kaam kaamnee is rendered for young readers as “asking only for pleasures and possessions,” keeping the contrast (finite requests before an infinite Giver) without the explicit content.
bhaujal softened (P3): the “terrifying world-ocean” is rendered as the “wide ocean of this life.”
Draw near to the One, and you find you were already being held close — as a child is held by a parent.
The Arc
Guru Ram Das closes his Raamkalee set on the Great Giver who places the One in the heart, and on a closeness that runs both ways: as near to you as you are to it.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The closing shabad answers the whole set’s longing. Where earlier verses reached for the One, this one reveals that the reaching was already met: nikat nikat, the One is as near to you as you are to it. The gods, for all their meditation, cannot find its edge — yet it holds the humble lover clasped to its heart. Grandeur and tenderness in the same breath, ending, as the set always meant to, in father, mother, child.
For Raag Raamkalee
This closes Guru Ram Das’s Raamkalee compositions (the set-total ||18|| marks the seal). It brings the raag of world-renouncing yogis to rest not in a far attainment but in the nearest thing of all — being cherished as a child, held close by the One who is beyond even the gods.
Translation Notes
Last updated: 2026-07-09