Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
To the poor, Your Name is wealth. To the homeless, Your Name is home.
To the disgraced, You are honor. To everyone, You are the Giver.
O Maker of all things, Cause behind every cause, Knower of every heart from the inside:
You alone know what You are. You are Your own joy, Your own praise. Nanak says: no one else knows.
Your Name fills exactly what each person is missing.
Up to now, Sukhmani has mostly been teaching about the One. Here it turns and speaks to the One. NirDhan ka-o Dhan tayro naa-o — to the poor, Your Name is wealth. Nithaavay ka-o naa-o tayraa thaa-o — to the homeless, Your Name is home. To the dishonored, You are honor. The Name fills just what is missing. It pays each need in its own money. The hungry get food. The cold get a coat.
Then the verse climbs past what anyone can check. Creator. Cause behind every cause. Antarjaamee, the One who knows every heart from the inside. And then past words themselves: You alone know Your own state. Only You can truly praise Yourself.
Japji Sahib says the same in its verses about how vast the One is. The One is not only hard to describe. The One knows itself and celebrates itself. Every human praise is an echo of the One's own praise, sounding through us.
Nanak's last words, "no one else knows," are not sad. They are wonder, standing barefoot on holy ground.
What do you most feel the lack of - and what would it mean for that exact lack to be met?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI