"Be gone, laziness! Run away, sins!" — the house swept by light, and the steadying hand on the arm.
The Arc
A brisk, joyful shabad. Verse 1: be gone, laziness! — shaking off sluggishness to do the thing that brings joy; turning to the One, I look beautiful, the pain of separation grows shy. Verse 2: run away, sins — the Creator has entered my home; the inner demons burnt not by combat but by light moving in, the music of bliss filling the swept house. Verse 3: remembering, fear runs away; dharma, patience, peace, and poise grow in the Saadh Sangat — cultivated, not forced. Verse 4 closes confident: holding His feet, what suffering can I feel?; He takes me by the arm, places His hand on my forehead, and saves me — victorious on the battlefield of life by being held.
Key Vocabulary
Be gone, laziness (v.1) — the cure for a heavy mood: start the good thing, and delight follows.
Sins flee when the Creator enters (v.2) — light entering, shadows leaving; invite good in, bad makes room.
Virtues grow in good company (v.3) — patience and calm cultivated in the right soil, not forced.
Takes me by the arm / hand on the forehead (v.4) — the steadying, blessing gestures of grace.
Translation Notes
"Demons within burnt" (v.2). The inner passions; rendered as "troublemakers inside me," consistent with the raag.
Death/hell imagery. Softened per voice rules; "fear runs away" kept as the emotional truth.
Themes and Cross-Connections
"Invite good in and the bad leaves" restates the joy-crowds-out-the-five of Shabad 321 and the raag's gentle approach to the passions (reconciliation over combat, Shabad 293). "Take me by the arm" recurs across the block (Shabad 311, Shabad 334, Shabad 139). Virtues-grow-in-Sangat is the raag's steady social note (Shabad 311, Shabad 327).
For Raag Aasaa
This shabad hands a child two immediately usable truths: the cure for a lazy, heavy mood is often just to start the good thing, because delight rushes in behind you; and you don't defeat bad habits by attacking them one by one — you invite in something better, and they leave to make room. And through it all, there is a hand on your arm, steadying you, so the roughest water stops being frightening.
"Be gone, laziness! Run away, sins!" — the house swept by light, and the steadying hand on the arm.
The Arc
A brisk, joyful shabad. Verse 1: be gone, laziness! — shaking off sluggishness to do the thing that brings joy; turning to the One, I look beautiful, the pain of separation grows shy. Verse 2: run away, sins — the Creator has entered my home; the inner demons burnt not by combat but by light moving in, the music of bliss filling the swept house. Verse 3: remembering, fear runs away; dharma, patience, peace, and poise grow in the Saadh Sangat — cultivated, not forced. Verse 4 closes confident: holding His feet, what suffering can I feel?; He takes me by the arm, places His hand on my forehead, and saves me — victorious on the battlefield of life by being held.
Key Vocabulary
Translation Notes
Themes and Cross-Connections
"Invite good in and the bad leaves" restates the joy-crowds-out-the-five of Shabad 321 and the raag's gentle approach to the passions (reconciliation over combat, Shabad 293). "Take me by the arm" recurs across the block (Shabad 311, Shabad 334, Shabad 139). Virtues-grow-in-Sangat is the raag's steady social note (Shabad 311, Shabad 327).
For Raag Aasaa
This shabad hands a child two immediately usable truths: the cure for a lazy, heavy mood is often just to start the good thing, because delight rushes in behind you; and you don't defeat bad habits by attacking them one by one — you invite in something better, and they leave to make room. And through it all, there is a hand on your arm, steadying you, so the roughest water stops being frightening.