Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
He is True, and what He makes is truly made. All of it - the whole creation - came out of God.
As it pleases Him, He spreads the expanse; as it pleases Him, He is One and Only again.
His powers are past counting; as it pleases Him, He gathers us back into Himself. Who, then, is near - and who is far away?
He Himself is everywhere, Himself. And whoever He causes to know Him within the heart - that one He brings to understanding.
If the One fills everything, then no one is closer to Him or farther from Him than anyone else.
The verse shows the universe breathing. Tis bhaavai taa karay bisthaar — when it pleases Him, He spreads out the whole creation. Tis bhaavai taa aikankaar — when it pleases Him, He is the One and Only again. It is like breathing out and breathing in, a picture Sukhmani used earlier too.
Then comes the question all of this has been building toward. Kavan nikat kavan kahee-ai door — who is near, and who can be called far? Aapay aap aap bharpoor — He Himself fills everything. So "near" and "far" stop working. Think of the air in a room. No one standing in it has less air around them. Distance from the One is not something you can measure. It is only a feeling a person can suffer. Earlier in Sukhmani, that feeling of distance was named. Here it melts away completely. There is no map on which any soul sits farther from Him.
This one question takes the measuring stick away from every ladder of "closer" and "farther." Some have claimed to stand nearer to God because of their role or their birth. Others have been told they stand farther off, because of their caste, the group a person is born into. Insiders and outsiders both lose their ruler here.
What can change is only awareness. Antargat jis aap janaa-ay — the One lets some people know He is within the heart. That knowing comes as a gift, from inside the gift itself.
Some people are told they are far from God - by others, or by their own hearts. What does this pauri's question do to that?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI