Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Which is the swan and which is the crane? Only the Lord's Glance of Grace knows.
Whoever is pleasing to Him — Nanak says — is transformed from a crow into a swan.
Three birds, one Glance
The Indian tradition uses three birds as moral/spiritual types: the crow (kāg), the crane (bājan), and the swan (hans). The crow is associated with opportunism and impurity; the crane with a false-spiritual appearance (herons stand still in water looking meditative but are hunting for fish); the swan with purity, discernment, and genuine spiritual refinement.
Hans, bājan kī āp pahachāṇai — "Which is the swan, and which is the crane? It is only by His Glance of Grace." Human judgment cannot reliably distinguish the genuine spiritual person from the performer. The crane looks like a meditator. The crow looks like a scavenger. But the swan — the genuinely pure soul — may look like neither to human eyes.
From crow to swan
Jo bhaavai so hansā, kāga kar ho'e — "Whoever is pleasing to Him, O Nanak, is transformed from a crow into a swan." The transformation from crow to swan is an act of grace, not self-improvement. The crow does not work its way up to swanhood through diet, behavior, and reputation management. The Lord looks at the crow and the crow becomes a swan. The grace is in the looking.
This connects to the Vaar's consistent theme: the divine initiative. Even the transformation from sinner to saint is the Lord's act, not the sinner's achievement.
*Has anyone ever seen something in you that you didn't know was there — and their seeing it helped you become it? What was that like?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI