What worship is this, O Thou Destroyer of birth? [1] Unbeaten strains of ecstasy are the trumpets of Thy worship.
Thou hast a thousand eyes and yet not one [2] eye;
Thou hast a thousand forms and yet not one form; [3]
Thou hast a thousand pure feet and yet not one foot; Thou hasta thousand organs of smell and yet not one organ—
I am fascinated by this play of Thine.[4]
The light which is in everything is Thine, O Lord of light.
From its brilliancy everything is brilliant;
By the Guru s teaching the light becometh manifest.
What pleaseth Thee is the real arati. [5]
O God, my mind is fascinated with Thy lotus feet as the bumble-bee with the flower: night and day I thirst for them.
Give the water of Thy grace to the sarang [6] Nanak, so that he may dwell in Thy name. [7]
- ↑ That is, of transmigration.
- ↑ Thou hast many spiritual eyes, but no material eye.
- ↑ Thy manifestations are many, yet Thou hast no bodily form.
- ↑ Also translated—In this way Thou hast enchanted the world.
- ↑ In memory of the circumstance recorded in the text the Sikhs repeat several prayers in the evening. The prayers are collectively called Ärati, and consist of this hymn and some others, which will be noted in their proper place. The word Ärati originally meant waving lamps at night before an idol.
- ↑ The Sārang, or pied Indian cuckoo, the Cuculus Melanoleukos is supposed to drink water only when the moon is in the mansion of Arcturus, so, when its time comes to drink, it is naturally thirsty. This bird is also known under the names chātrik and papïha. Its love is celebrated in song and story. It is in full voice on the approach of the Indian monsoon, when its plaintive strains are beard clearest at night. It is said that they make love's unhealed wounds bleed anew.
- ↑ Dhanāsari.
