Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Among the Yogis, You are the Yogi. Among the pleasure-seekers, You are the Pleasure-seeker.
Your limits are not known to any of the beings in the heavens, in this world, or in the nether regions below.
Jogee andar jog-ee, bhog-ee andar bhog-ee — among the Yogis (jog-ee andar), You are the Yogi (jog-ee); among those who seek pleasures (bhog-ee andar), You are the Pleasure-seeker (bhog-ee). The opening is a declaration of total divine immanence: the Lord is not only in the renunciant's cave or the temple — He is equally present in the pleasure-seeker's joy. The Yogi who has given up all pleasures and the pleasure-seeker who has given up nothing are both in the presence of the One, who is the highest expression of whatever they are doing.
This is the Ik Onkar teaching in its most radical form: not "God is with the Yogis" or "God is with the good people," but God is the Yogi among Yogis, the Pleasure-seeker among pleasure-seekers. The divine is not separate from what it inhabits — it is the deepest truth of it. The best Yogi is the best expression of the divine in that mode; the most genuine pleasure-seeker is an expression of the divine's own delight.
Tis dee ant na paa-ee-ai — His limits are not found (ant na paa-ee-ai — no end, no limit can be discovered). No being in the heavens, in this world, or in the underworld (trihu lokaa — three worlds) can find His boundary. The expansion: the One who is present in every mode of human seeking has no end that any being in any realm can reach.
What does it mean that God is equally present in renunciation and in pleasure — that He is the truest version of both? Does that change how you think about either?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI