But the Creator s works cannot be numbered.
The bull that is spoken of is righteousness, the offspring of mercy,
Which supported by patience maintaineth the order of nature. [1]
Whoever understandeth this is a true man.
What a load there is upon the bull ! [2]
Beyond this earth there are more worlds, more and more.
What power can support their weight ?
The names of living things, their species, and colours
Have all been written with a flowing pen.
Doth any one know how to write an account of them ?
If the account were written, how great it would be !
What power and beautiful form are Thine, O God !
Who hath power [3] to know how great Thy gifts are ?
By one word [4] Thou didst effect the expansion of the world,
Whereby hundreds of thousands of rivers were produced.
What power have I to describe Thee ?
So powerless am I, that I cannot even once be a sacrifice unto Thee.
Whatever pleaseth Thee is good.
Thou, Formless One, art ever secure.
XVII
Numberless thy worshippers,[5] and numberless Thy lovers ;
Numberless Thine adorers, and numberless they who perform austerities for Thee ;
Numberless the reciters of sacred books and Veds ;
- ↑ Sūt, the thread on which the world is strung. The Guru means by patience the adjusted balance of the world, everything being in equipoise.
- ↑ Here Guru Nānak obviously rejects the Hindu story that the earth is supported by a bull.
- ↑ We understand kūt as the Arabic kuwwat. If kūt be held to mean food, a meaning which the word so pronounced also bears in Arabic, the verse will be translated - Who knoweth the extent of Thy gifts of sustenance ?
- ↑ The Hindus believe this is Eko aham, bahu syām, I am one, let Me become many.
- ↑ Literally - repetitions of God's name. Here the word is used by metonymy for those who repeat God's name.