Vishnu

Ek Anek Biapak Purak (Sabhu Gobindu Hai)

Sant NamdevSant Namdevc. 1270–1350

एक अनेक बिआपक पूरक जत देखउ तत सोई॥
माइआ चित्र बचित्र बिमोहित बिरला बूझै कोई॥१॥

सभु गोबिंदु है सभु गोबिंदु है गोबिंद बिनु नही कोई॥
सूतु एकु मणि सत सहंस जैसे ओति पोति प्रभु सोई॥१॥ रहाउ॥

जल तरंग अरु फेन बुदबुदा जल ते भिंन न होई॥
इहु परपंचु पारब्रहम की लीला बिचरत आन न होई॥२॥

मिथिआ भरमु अरु सुपन मनोरथ सति पदारथु जानिआ॥
सुक्रित मनसा गुर उपदेसी जागत ही मनु मानिआ॥३॥

कहत नामदेउ हरि की रचना देखहु रिदै बीचारी॥
घट घट अंतरि सरब निरंतरि केवल एक मुरारी॥४॥१॥

Meaning

One and many, all-pervading, filling all: wherever I look, there he is. Bewitched by the many-coloured pictures of maya, hardly anyone understands.

All is Gobind, all is Gobind; there is nothing without Gobind. As one thread holds hundreds and thousands of beads, so the Lord runs through everything, warp and weft.

Waves, foam and bubbles are not different from the water. This whole display is the leela of Parabrahman; reflect on it and you find nothing else.

False doubts and dream-like wishes I took for real things. When, by good deeds, the guru’s teaching entered my mind, I woke and my mind was satisfied.

Namdev says: look at Hari’s creation and reflect in your heart. In every heart, everywhere, without a gap, there is only the one Murari.

About this bhajan

Sant Namdev of Pandharpur, the tailor-saint of the Varkari path, travelled north and spent his last years in Punjab; about sixty of his shabads are kept in the Guru Granth Sahib. This one, the first of his Asa shabads, is pure Vedanta in village images: the thread through the beads, the waves that are only water. “Sabhu Gobindu hai” is the refrain, and the whole hymn turns around it.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Raag Asa, Bani Namdev ji, ang 485 (Devanagari transliteration via BaniDB; the original is in Gurmukhi)