Beggar and king alike pass through one hand; I come empty-handed with nothing worthy to offer, my breaths already counted — so my one prayer, for myself and all the drowning, is simply: carry us across.
The Arc
Pauri 0 flattens the world's contrasts (beggar/king, honor/shame) before the One who destroys and creates, and asks what could ever be a worthy offering. The Pause (Pauri 1): the Name is my only support; You are the Great Giver. Pauri 2 confesses the crooked path and turns it into a memento mori — the body crumbling, the breaths already counted. Pauri 3 opens into compassion and intercession for all the blind and drowning. Pauri 4 makes every good thing depend on grace and ends in the universal prayer: carry us across the terrifying ocean.
Key Vocabulary
Ti-Tukas: three-line stanzas — the form of this shabad
breaths and morsels counted: the memento mori — life's fixed, finite measure
bhavjal: the terrifying world-ocean the soul cannot cross alone
nadar: the Glance of Grace on which even meeting the Guru depends
Themes and Cross-Connections
The "breaths already counted" is one of Gurbani's sharpest mortality images (cf. the Chaytee shabads of Raag Gauree). Nanak's self-inclusion in the confession ("I have followed the crooked path") models honest prayer over accusation — kin to B00C668's unpretending prayer. The turn to intercession (Pauri 3) shows realization overflowing toward others, as in B00C673's soul who saves her family. The closing "carry us across" is the empty-handed grace-dependence that pairs with Raag Gauree's upside-down vessel.
For Raag Aasaa
Aasaa's hope here is stripped to its bare essential: not confidence in oneself but trust in being carried. The mood is humble and tender — confession opening into compassion, ending in the simplest prayer a soul can make.
Beggar and king alike pass through one hand; I come empty-handed with nothing worthy to offer, my breaths already counted — so my one prayer, for myself and all the drowning, is simply: carry us across.
The Arc
Pauri 0 flattens the world's contrasts (beggar/king, honor/shame) before the One who destroys and creates, and asks what could ever be a worthy offering. The Pause (Pauri 1): the Name is my only support; You are the Great Giver. Pauri 2 confesses the crooked path and turns it into a memento mori — the body crumbling, the breaths already counted. Pauri 3 opens into compassion and intercession for all the blind and drowning. Pauri 4 makes every good thing depend on grace and ends in the universal prayer: carry us across the terrifying ocean.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The "breaths already counted" is one of Gurbani's sharpest mortality images (cf. the Chaytee shabads of Raag Gauree). Nanak's self-inclusion in the confession ("I have followed the crooked path") models honest prayer over accusation — kin to B00C668's unpretending prayer. The turn to intercession (Pauri 3) shows realization overflowing toward others, as in B00C673's soul who saves her family. The closing "carry us across" is the empty-handed grace-dependence that pairs with Raag Gauree's upside-down vessel.
For Raag Aasaa
Aasaa's hope here is stripped to its bare essential: not confidence in oneself but trust in being carried. The mood is humble and tender — confession opening into compassion, ending in the simplest prayer a soul can make.
Last updated: 2026-06-28