Raag Aasaa
Commentary

Raag Aasaa, Shabad, Mehl 5 (Guru Arjan)

"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 mevictorious 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 B00C955 and the raag's gentle approach to the passions (reconciliation over combat, B00C927). "Take me by the arm" recurs across the block (B00C945, B00C968, B00C773). Virtues-grow-in-Sangat is the raag's steady social note (B00C945, B00C961).

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.


Last updated: 2026-07-05

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