The Drama Is Bracketed on Both Sides by the One
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Then He Himself fashioned the visible world - and set the three moods running through it.
Sin and virtue began to be spoken of. Some went down to hells; some began yearning for paradise.
The snares of the world, the tangles of the glitter, the me-first illusion, clinging, doubt, the loads of fear - pain and pleasure, honor and shame - all of it came to be told in a thousand tellings.
He makes His drama, and He watches it. And when He winds the drama up - He alone remains.
Now the curtain rises. The One makes the world, and the whole play begins.
After six verses about "before," this one tells the beginning. Jah aap rachi-o parpanch akaar — He Himself made the visible world. Tihu gun meh keeno bisthaar — He spread it out through the three gunas, the moods of nature. At once, all the words the earlier verses melted away come rushing back to work.
Paap punn tah bha-ee kahaavat — sin and virtue began to be spoken of. The world's drama of right and wrong starts as talk. Then come hell and paradise, snares, ego, clinging, doubt and "loads of fear." Then pain and pleasure, honor and shame. It is the full cast of Sukhmani's earlier hymns, all hired on opening day. Think of a school play where everyone gets a costume and a part on the very first day.
Notice how the verse puts it: these things came to be described. They are real as roles, and real as we live them inside the play. They are not part of the Player.
Then comes the line that holds the whole hymn. Khayl sankochai ta-o naanak aikai — He folds up the play, and then He alone remains. The play has the One on both sides. It comes from Him, runs inside Him, and folds back into Him. Nothing real is lost in the folding, because the only Real was never at risk.
When a play ends, the characters vanish but the actor goes home. What in you is character - and what goes home?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI