Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Doer behind causes is the Maker - what schemes were ever really in these small hands?
One glance of grace, and things come to be. The One is His own source, His own counsel, His own pleasure.
Far from everything, with everything. Understanding, seeing, deciding - all His.
He Himself is the One - and He Himself is the many. He does not die, does not leave, does not come and go. He simply fills all of this, forever.
This one says the One does everything, so the me never had anything to claim.
The second half of this song now rises from human pride to the ground beneath it: why "I am the doer" was never ours to say. Aapay aap aap parabh so-ay — God is Himself, from Himself, all by Himself. No one made the One. No one advised the One. No one helped. This opens up Saibhang from the Mool Mantar, the opening lines of the Guru Granth Sahib. Saibhang means self-existent.
The line to remember is aapeh ayk aapeh anayk — He Himself is the One, and He Himself is the many. That is the whole meaning of Ik Onkar, "One Creator," in a few words. The many things in the world are not a second thing beside the One. They are the One, playing in many shapes. Earlier songs pictured this as waves on the ocean, and as one actor in many costumes.
So pride was always a filing mistake. A part claiming credit against the whole is like a wave sending the ocean a bill.
Sabh tay door sabhhoo kai sang — far from all, yet with all. An earlier song offered this as a puzzle. Here it is simply true.
Look at your hand. It is made of food you did not grow, patterns you did not design, life you did not start. Whose is it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI