Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Fire is hidden inside every piece of wood, and butter is hidden inside all the milk.
The same light shines in the great and the small alike — the One lives inside the heart of every single being.
The One is hidden inside everything, the way fire is hidden inside wood.
This shabad opens with Ik Onkaar, "there is One." Then Guru Arjan gives two kitchen pictures. Sagal banaspat meh baisantar — fire is inside all wood. You cannot see it, but strike a match to a log and it comes out. Sagal doodh meh ghee-aa — butter is inside all milk. Stir the milk long enough, and there it is.
The One is like that. It is not somewhere far away. It is the hidden life inside everything, waiting to be drawn out.
Ooch neech meh jot samaanee — the same light lives in the high and the low. Rich or poor, famous or unknown, the light is the same. Every ranking people invent melts away in that light.
If the same light really shines in everyone, who might you look at differently tomorrow?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI