Your harp-playing is in vain while the ox of your mind has wandered off; so yoke the restless mind, plant the Name in the field of the body, and water it — and the One will sprout there like a green field.
The Arc
Pauri 0: the Yogi's outer harp-playing is vain; sing the One's praises instead. The Pause (Pauri 1): feed the mind the teaching; bow to the One present through all ages. Pauri 2: the devastating image — you water the fields, but the oxen have wandered off. Pauri 3: the remedy — plant the Name in the field of the body, yoke the unstable mind like an ox, and irrigate with the Name. Pauri 4: all seekers follow the wisdom the One gives; Nanak prays only to be linked to the Inner-Knower.
Key Vocabulary
the wandered oxen: effort wasted because the mind has left the work
the field of the body: the body as farm, the mind as ox, the Name as seed and water (cf. Shabad 44)
Jangams: wandering Shaivite mendicants — among the world's many seekers
the Inner-Knower: the One who searches hearts, to whom Nanak prays
Themes and Cross-Connections
This shabad is addressed, like Guru Nanak's Bharthari shabads (Shabads 61–62), to a Yogi — relocating practice from outer technique to the heart (The Inward Turn). The field-and-ox farming image is Guru Ram Das's vivid version of Shabad 44's heart-as-farm: grace gives the seed and water, but you must yoke the wandering mind to the plough. "All follow the wisdom You give" is Hukam.
For Raag Aasaa
Aasaa's hope is agricultural and honest: no amount of skilled playing helps if the mind has strayed — but yoke it, plant the Name, and life turns green. The mood is plainspoken and earthy, ending in a bare, trusting prayer.
Your harp-playing is in vain while the ox of your mind has wandered off; so yoke the restless mind, plant the Name in the field of the body, and water it — and the One will sprout there like a green field.
The Arc
Pauri 0: the Yogi's outer harp-playing is vain; sing the One's praises instead. The Pause (Pauri 1): feed the mind the teaching; bow to the One present through all ages. Pauri 2: the devastating image — you water the fields, but the oxen have wandered off. Pauri 3: the remedy — plant the Name in the field of the body, yoke the unstable mind like an ox, and irrigate with the Name. Pauri 4: all seekers follow the wisdom the One gives; Nanak prays only to be linked to the Inner-Knower.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
This shabad is addressed, like Guru Nanak's Bharthari shabads (Shabads 61–62), to a Yogi — relocating practice from outer technique to the heart (The Inward Turn). The field-and-ox farming image is Guru Ram Das's vivid version of Shabad 44's heart-as-farm: grace gives the seed and water, but you must yoke the wandering mind to the plough. "All follow the wisdom You give" is Hukam.
For Raag Aasaa
Aasaa's hope is agricultural and honest: no amount of skilled playing helps if the mind has strayed — but yoke it, plant the Name, and life turns green. The mood is plainspoken and earthy, ending in a bare, trusting prayer.