I should still not be able to express Thy worth; how great shall I call Thy name?[1]
Hereupon a voice was heard, 'O Nanak, thou hast seen My sovereignty.' Then Nanak said, 'O Sire, what is anything that mortal can say, and what can be said or heard after what I have seen? Even the lower animals sing Thy praises.' Upon this, the Guru uttered the preamble of the Japji:
There is but one God whose name is True, the Creator, devoid of fear and enmity, immortal, unborn, self-existent, great, and bountiful.[2]
The True One was in the beginning; The True One was in the primal age.
When Nanak had finished, a voice was heard again: 'O Nanak, to him upon whom My look of kindness resteth, be thou merciful, as I too shall be merciful. My name is God, the primal Brahm, and thou art the divine Guru.'
The Guru then uttered the following hymn:
Thou wise and omniscient, art an ocean; how can I a fish obtain a knowledge of Thy limit?
Wherever I look, there art Thou; if I am separated from Thee, I shall burst.
I know neither Death the fisherman nor his net.
When I am in sorrow, then I remember Thee.
Thou art omnipresent though I thought Thee distant.
What I do is patent unto Thee;
Thou beholdest mine acts, yet I deny them.
I have not done Thy work or uttered Thy name;
Whatever Thou givest, that I eat.
There is no other gate than Thine; to whose gate shall I go?
Nanak maketh one supplication
