ਤੇਰਾ ਜਨੁ ਨਿਰਤਿ ਕਰੇ ਗੁਨ ਗਾਵੈ ॥
tayraa jan nirat karay gun gaavai.
Your humble servant dances and sings Your Glorious Praises.
ਰਬਾਬੁ ਪਖਾਵਜ ਤਾਲ ਘੁੰਘਰੂ ਅਨਹਦ ਸਬਦੁ ਵਜਾਵੈ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
rabaab pakhaavaj taal ghunghroo anhad sabad vajaavai. ||1|| rahaa-o.
He plays upon the guitar, tambourine and cymbals, and the unstruck sound current of the Shabad resounds. ||1||Pause||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Your servant dances and sings Your praises.
He plays the guitar, the tambourine, the cymbals — and the unstruck music of the Word resounds.
When the self is silent, even real music opens onto the music that no instrument makes.
Here the instruments are real — guitar, tambourine, cymbals — yet beneath the outer music "the unstruck sound current of the Shabad resounds." Even actual devotional music (kirtan), done with a silenced self, becomes the vehicle of the Anhad. The outer and inner music meet when the heart is right.
A Question to Sit With
When has music or song carried you somewhere deeper than the sound itself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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