Like a baby who needs its mother, my heart cannot go a moment without the One.
The Arc
A shabad of thirst and belonging. The mind cannot survive an instant without the Name, like a baby crying for its mother; the Name has gone through the whole self like thread through beads; the servant is a lotus in love with its pond. Then the ego-crust of ages rinses off in a sweet ocean, and the shabad ends in trusting surrender: do not tally my mistakes — just keep me as Your own.
Key Vocabulary
naam ras geedhay — drinking in the sweet essence of the Name, over and over.
jal kamal preet — the lotus in love with its water; wither without it.
haumai mal — the crust of ego, the stuck feeling of a separate self, washed away.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Longing-as-love: thirst that is itself a form of nearness, a recurring Basant note.
For Raag Basant
Spring's water imagery: the lotus that cannot bloom without its pond, the ego washed in the sweet ocean.
Translation Notes
karam (karma) softened: 'do not add up my mistakes.' 'slave' (apneedhay) rendered 'keep me as Your own.' The mother-baby image kept tender and un-gendered-blame. haumai glossed on first use as the feeling of being a separate self.
Like a baby who needs its mother, my heart cannot go a moment without the One.
The Arc
A shabad of thirst and belonging. The mind cannot survive an instant without the Name, like a baby crying for its mother; the Name has gone through the whole self like thread through beads; the servant is a lotus in love with its pond. Then the ego-crust of ages rinses off in a sweet ocean, and the shabad ends in trusting surrender: do not tally my mistakes — just keep me as Your own.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Longing-as-love: thirst that is itself a form of nearness, a recurring Basant note.
For Raag Basant
Spring's water imagery: the lotus that cannot bloom without its pond, the ego washed in the sweet ocean.
Translation Notes
karam (karma) softened: 'do not add up my mistakes.' 'slave' (apneedhay) rendered 'keep me as Your own.' The mother-baby image kept tender and un-gendered-blame. haumai glossed on first use as the feeling of being a separate self.