Small and glad, I taste the Name; why waste this one good life on fighting?
The Arc
This short ik-tukay shabad speaks in single lines. It opens in humility — I am one of Your tiny creatures, yet by Your gift I can hold Your oldest Name. The rahau turns to praise: naming the divine virtues and bowing, glad. The verses ask, having tasted the Name, why waste life on grudges and getting-even; when grace collapses pride, the Name comes with ease. The close names the finest work of a life: keeping the Word close.
Key Vocabulary
ik-tukay — single-line verses.
kiram jant — a small creature; smallness before vastness, not worthlessness.
naam su-aad — the taste, the relish, of the Name.
chookaa abhimaan — pride collapsing, letting the Name in.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The pride-collapses-then-Name-comes pattern echoes the Gurprasad readings (grace received, ego steps aside). The ethical turn against vair vaad connects to the wider project's care about not wasting a life on conflict.
For Raag Basant
In a raag of blossoms this is a small, single-stemmed flower — brief couplets, but carrying the whole turn from smallness to song.
Translation Notes
Kiram jant (a worm) is rendered as smallness-before-vastness and wonder, following the guideline that self-abasement becomes empty-handedness, never self-condemnation. Naam su-aad is translated as taste or relish rather than addiction.
Small and glad, I taste the Name; why waste this one good life on fighting?
The Arc
This short ik-tukay shabad speaks in single lines. It opens in humility — I am one of Your tiny creatures, yet by Your gift I can hold Your oldest Name. The rahau turns to praise: naming the divine virtues and bowing, glad. The verses ask, having tasted the Name, why waste life on grudges and getting-even; when grace collapses pride, the Name comes with ease. The close names the finest work of a life: keeping the Word close.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The pride-collapses-then-Name-comes pattern echoes the Gurprasad readings (grace received, ego steps aside). The ethical turn against vair vaad connects to the wider project's care about not wasting a life on conflict.
For Raag Basant
In a raag of blossoms this is a small, single-stemmed flower — brief couplets, but carrying the whole turn from smallness to song.
Translation Notes
Kiram jant (a worm) is rendered as smallness-before-vastness and wonder, following the guideline that self-abasement becomes empty-handedness, never self-condemnation. Naam su-aad is translated as taste or relish rather than addiction.