Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The One is so far beyond words that no mouth can ever fully speak it and no ears can ever fully take it in. People sing it and say it, high and low, day and night — and that singing is beautiful — yet the whole truth of it still slips past every word.
If the One were just one more object, you could point at it and describe its shape and color. But it is not a thing among things. It is the doer behind everything that happens, living quietly in every heart, high and low alike. Nanak says: it is so hard to speak it, and no mouth can say all of it. So we keep reaching for it with words, glad to try.
First Mehl, on ineffability. Hard to utter, hard to hear (aakhan aukhaa, sunan aukhaa): the One exceeds language, having no form or feature to see (roop na jaat), and the practice of chanting goes on gladly. The Creator is the doer in every heart, high and low (ghat a-ughat). Chanting is honored even as its limits are named.
Have you ever felt something so big that no words you had were quite enough?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI