Forever and Ever, Night and Day, I Praise His Goodness
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Forever and ever, night and day, I praise the Greatness of Your Goodness.
You bestow Your Gifts — even if we do not ask for them.
Says Nanak — contemplate the True Lord.
The closing pauri. Sadaa sadaa kalbaan-u salaahnaa, tad-ee wadiaa-ee — always (sadaa sadaa) and eternally (kalbaan-u — age after age, from beginning to end), I praise (salaahnaa) the Greatness of Your Goodness (tad-ee wadiaa-ee — Your greatness). Sadaa sadaa — the doubling of "always" that appears throughout Mehl 3's compositions as the mark of the permanent, not the occasional. The praise is not for good days or answered prayers; it is the standing orientation of the redeemed soul.
Bina mangai, dayvai daat-aa, kaho Naanak sach dhiaa-ee — without being asked (bina mangai), the Giver (dayvai daat-aa) gives His gifts. The Lord gives before you ask. Shabad 125 described the worst situations — hardship, poverty, sin — and the best situations — empire, health, pleasure — and found the Lord the solution to all. Here the close: He gives without being asked. The one who cannot ask (because they don't know what they need), the one who has forgotten to ask (because life was full), the one who was too proud to ask — the Lord gives to all of them without waiting for the request.
Sach dhiaa-ee — contemplate the True Lord (sach — the True One, the Real; dhiaa-ee — meditate on, contemplate). The Nanak-seal is the simplest instruction: contemplate the True Lord. Not a doctrine, not a system — sach dhiaa-ee. Keep the True Lord in your mind.
What has been given to you that you never asked for — and only recognized as a gift later? What does that say about how the divine works?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI