Raag Aasaa
Commentary

Raag Aasaa, Mehl 5 (Guru Arjan)

The two words of the Name are my whole rosary — held in the heart and spoken with the mouth; ask for it, enshrine it within, and it frees you from birth and death and goes with you to the next world.

The Arc

Pauri 0: the Name is my rosary; telling it, mercy comes. The Pause (Pauri 1): pray the Guru to give the rosary of the Name and keep me sheltered. Pauri 2: enshrined in the heart, it frees from birth and death. Pauri 3: held in heart and on mouth, the soul never wavers. Pauri 4: the one soaked in the Name carries the rosary to the next world.

Key Vocabulary

  • the Name as rosary (maalaa): the Name itself named as the maalaa, held in the heart (The Inward Turn)
  • asked for, not manufactured: even the means of remembrance is given (Gurprasad)
  • enshrined in the heart: the Name set within, freeing from birth and death
  • the rosary that travels: the Name carried past death

Themes and Cross-Connections

The Name as rosary is The Inward Turn, kin to the janeu of Shabad 45 and the inner pilgrimage. "Enshrined in the heart... freed from birth and death" is Naam and jeevat marnaa. The rosary "that goes to the next world" is the Name as what survives death (Shabad 109, Shabad 161).

For Raag Aasaa

Aasaa's hope is a rosary of the heart — held within and spoken aloud, freeing the soul, crossing the threshold with it. The mood is intimate and simple: two words, held close.

Read this shabad →
← Back to Raag Aasaa