Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
When the Deathless One rested at His ease - where was birth? Where was death? Where was the ending of worlds?
When there was only the perfect Maker - who feared dying?
When the One was beyond seeing and beyond grasping - who kept the record books? Who was summoned to account? When there was only the Stainless, the Fathomless - who was freed, and who was held?
In and of Himself, He is the wonder of wonders. He shaped His own form - Himself.
Before anything was born, nothing could die.
Now death itself joins the questions. Abhinaasee sukh aapan aasan — the Deathless One sat at ease. Tah janam maran kaho kahaa binaasan — then where was birth, death, or even the ending of worlds? Who was afraid of dying, when only the Deathless was there?
The children's version says it exactly: before anything was born, nothing could die. And the Deathless is still what everything is made of. Ashtapadee 14 pictured it as the ocean under the waves. Waves rise and fall, but the water is always there.
Then the verse names the record-keepers of old Indian stories. Tab chitar gupat kis poochhat laykhaa — then whom did Chitra and Gupt call to account? They were said to write down every deed of every life. Before there were two, they had no one to write about. Religion's account books, like its heavens and hells, are part of the stage. This finally explains the closed account book of Ashtapadee 11. The Owner can cancel what the Owner set up.
The last line answers the one question left. If only the One was there, where did His form come from? Naanak aapan roop aap hee uparjaa — He shaped His own form Himself. This is Saibhang, "self-existent," the deepest word of the Mool Mantar, the opening lines of the Guru Granth Sahib, shown in action.
What part of you was never born - and what would it mean that it can never die?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI