qMonkqMonkSikhism
Sikhism·Raag Wadahans·Shabad 44
Verse 4 of 4

The World Is a Play We Each Get to Join

ਨਾਨਕ ਕਿਸ ਨੋ ਬਾਬਾ ਰੋਈਐ ਬਾਜੀ ਹੈ ਇਹੁ ਸੰਸਾਰੋ ॥
naanak kis no baabaa ro-ee-ai baajee hai ih sansaaro.
Nanak: for whom should we mourn, O Baba? This world is merely a play.
ਕੀਤਾ ਵੇਖੈ ਸਾਹਿਬੁ ਆਪਣਾ ਕੁਦਰਤਿ ਕਰੇ ਬੀਚਾਰੋ ॥
keetaa vaykhai saahib aapnaa kudrat karay beechaaro.
The Lord Master beholds His work, and contemplates His creative potency.
ਕੁਦਰਤਿ ਬੀਚਾਰੇ ਧਾਰਣ ਧਾਰੇ ਜਿਨਿ ਕੀਆ ਸੋ ਜਾਣੈ ॥
kudrat beechaaray Dhaaran Dhaaray jin kee-aa so jaanai.
He contemplates His creative potency, having established the Universe. He who created it, He alone knows.
ਆਪੇ ਵੇਖੈ ਆਪੇ ਬੂਝੈ ਆਪੇ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਪਛਾਣੈ ॥
aapay vaykhai aapay boojhai aapay hukam pachhaanai.
He Himself beholds it, and He Himself understands it. He Himself realizes the Hukam of His Command.
ਜਿਨਿ ਕਿਛੁ ਕੀਆ ਸੋਈ ਜਾਣੈ ਤਾ ਕਾ ਰੂਪੁ ਅਪਾਰੋ ॥
jin kichh kee-aa so-ee jaanai taa kaa roop apaaro.
He who created these things, He alone knows. His subtle form is infinite.
ਨਾਨਕ ਕਿਸ ਨੋ ਬਾਬਾ ਰੋਈਐ ਬਾਜੀ ਹੈ ਇਹੁ ਸੰਸਾਰੋ ॥੪॥੨॥
naanak kis no baabaa ro-ee-ai baajee hai ih sansaaro. ||4||2||
Nanak: for whom should we mourn, O Baba? This world is merely a play. ||4||2||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

This whole world is a bit like a wonderful play we each get to be part of for a while.

The Maker set the whole thing up, watches over it, and understands it all.

So instead of only sorrowing, we can trust the One who made and holds it.

The whole world is a bit like a wonderful play we each get to be part of, watched over by a loving Maker.
The deeper layer

The Alaahanee closes on one of Guru Nanak's most serene and freeing images: kis noo rovhu... jag khaylaa — "for whom should we mourn, O Baba? This world is merely a play." The whole of life and death is a great play (khel) that the Maker "beholds and understands." This is not cold — it's consoling: the endings that break our hearts are held within a larger, loving story we can't fully see, staged by One who knows every part. The colophon (||4||2||) closes. For a child, gently: the whole world is a bit like a wonderful play we each get to be part of, watched over by a loving Maker who understands it all.

A Question to Sit With

If life is a bit like a play, what does it feel like to know someone loving is holding the whole story?

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

About this shabad →
← Verse 3 of 4 The Bravest Thing Is a Life Full of Love
Shabad 45 · Verse 1 →Beneath All Change, a Steady Maker Holds It Up
Use ← → to navigate