Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Looking at His wonder upon wonder, I am wonder-struck - amazed, and amazed at my amazement.
Whoever this opens for comes to taste that joy. His lovers stay soaked in His love, and through wisdom's teaching every real blessing finds them.
They become givers; they carry pain away from people. In their company the world itself is carried.
Blessed, the servant of such servants - in their company you fall in love with the One. Singing His glory, by grace, the whole harvest comes home.
This one says that wonder is the right answer to the One, and real wonder turns into kindness.
The song began with the One who has no shape. It ends with the only fitting response. Bisman bisam bha-ay bismaad — wonder on wonder, I am struck with wonder. The words stack up amazement until there is nothing more to say. At the end of the twelfth ashtapadee, the Guru said "true" three times. Here the wonder is happening to the speaker.
This is vismaad, a deep, breathless wonder. Gurbani treats it as a door, not just a feeling. Jin boojhi-aa tis aa-i-aa savaad — whoever understands gets to taste it. Wonder is how we taste the One we cannot picture. Many Sikhs connect this wonder with the word Waheguru. It is often heard as carrying wahe, the gasp you make at something amazing.
Then the wonder walks down into the world, step by step. The people struck with wonder become givers. They take away pain. In their company, the world is carried across. Even the helper of such a helper is blessed.
Think of a friend who has just seen something amazing. They cannot keep it in, and they start sharing. In Sukhmani, wonder ends as bread and comfort in other people's hands.
The whole harvest comes home by the Guru's grace. That is where this sixteenth ashtapadee ends, as Sukhmani always does.
When did something last make you gasp with amazement? What did you do with that feeling - and what could it become?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI