Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
You are the Gopis — the milk-maids of Krishna. You are the sacred river Jamunaa. You are Krishna, the herdsman.
You Yourself support the world.
By Your Command, human beings are fashioned — and You Yourself embellish them, and then again destroy them.
The most radical pauri in the ashtapadee, and one of the most radical in all of Siree Raag. Too gopi-aa, too kan-haiaa, too jamnaa — You are the Gopis (the devotees who love Krishna), You are Jamunaa (the sacred river), You are Krishna the herdsman (kan-haiaa — a name for Krishna as the dark one, the cowherd). The divine is not like Krishna — the divine is Krishna. And also the river. And also the devotees who love Him.
This is the Ik Onkar declaration applied to the most beloved story in North Indian devotional tradition: the Krishna-lila, the divine sport of Krishna and the Gopis. In one sentence, Guru Nanak dissolves all the categories: God is the beloved (Krishna), the lover (the Gopis), and the sacred water (Jamunaa) — all three, simultaneously. There is nothing in the story that is not God.
Aap-ay jant-u upaaay-aa, Aap-ay bans-u vajaai-aa — You Yourself fashioned (upaaay-aa) the beings (jant-u); You Yourself played the flute (bans-u vajaai-aa — played the flute, bamboo flute). The flute is Krishna's signature instrument — the sound that called the Gopis to the forest. Guru Nanak says: You are the flute player, You are the flute, You are the ones who hear and come.
What does it mean that the divine is in every role — the lover AND the beloved AND the sacred space between them? Does that change how you read the stories you love?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI