Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Seven islands, seven seas, nine continents, four Vedas, eighteen Puraanas — You are in all of it, Lord. Every system, every tradition, every world.
You pervade and permeate everything. Everyone loves You — even if they don't know they do.
Every being and creature meditates on You, in its own way. You hold the whole earth in Your hands.
I am amazed by those Gurmukhs who worship and adore You consciously — who know what they are doing when they do it.
And You Yourself are the one running this whole wondrous drama!
Cosmic scope
Sāt dīp, sāt sāgar, nau khand, chār ved, aṭhārah purāṇā — "the seven islands, seven seas, nine continents, four Vedas and eighteen Puraanas." Guru Ram Das names the full classical cosmological framework: the seven islands (dvīpa) and seven oceans of Hindu cosmology, the nine regions (khand) of the known world, the four Vedas, the eighteen Puraanas. He names the entire framework to say: You are in all of it. Nothing in this frame is outside the Lord's presence.
"Everyone loves You"
Sabhai tujhe piāre — "everyone loves You." This is a remarkable claim: not just that everyone should love the Lord, but that everyone does — including those who appear not to. In the Lord's creation, even the creatures who seem most distant from devotion are, in their nature, turned toward the Lord who made them. The Gurmukh differs from others not in having love but in knowing they have love.
"You stage this wondrous drama"
Āp khlā'io, vad tamāshā — "You Yourself are All-pervading; You stage this wondrous drama." The universe as tamāshā — a wondrous spectacle, a divine play, a drama that the Lord both stages and inhabits. The Lord is not watching from outside. He is the playwright, the stage, the actors, and the audience. All at once.
*If everything is the Lord's drama and the Lord is inside all of it — what would it mean to be an actor who knows it is a drama? How would you play your part differently?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI