Empty hands, one hope — and Your Name will carry me across.
The Arc
A shabad of humble trust. You keep giving, filling my very breath and my plate, while I hardly know enough to thank You. I have done no grand practices and don't know the secret way — I've pinned my whole hope on You alone, and Your Name will carry me across. A fish never finds the edge of the sea; I never reach the edge of You — and somehow that feels safe. The truly rich are those who hold You in mind.
Key Vocabulary
bad daatay day rahay — the Great Giver who keeps on giving.
jaap na taap na karam — no austerities or rituals performed; only hope in the Name.
jaleh meen — the fish that never finds the water's edge; the One who cannot be measured.
jin too dhiaaiaa say ganee — those who hold You are the truly rich.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Grace-not-earned: the Name carries across even the one with empty hands.
For Raag Basant
Spring as trust: the small self resting safe inside the vast, feeding One.
Translation Notes
jaap/taap (austerities) named as practices the speaker has NOT done — a gentle flag that the Name, not ritual performance, is what carries. This treats ritualism as formalism, not aimed at any one tradition. nirgun/'unworthy' rendered as humble smallness, not self-condemnation.
Empty hands, one hope — and Your Name will carry me across.
The Arc
A shabad of humble trust. You keep giving, filling my very breath and my plate, while I hardly know enough to thank You. I have done no grand practices and don't know the secret way — I've pinned my whole hope on You alone, and Your Name will carry me across. A fish never finds the edge of the sea; I never reach the edge of You — and somehow that feels safe. The truly rich are those who hold You in mind.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Grace-not-earned: the Name carries across even the one with empty hands.
For Raag Basant
Spring as trust: the small self resting safe inside the vast, feeding One.
Translation Notes
jaap/taap (austerities) named as practices the speaker has NOT done — a gentle flag that the Name, not ritual performance, is what carries. This treats ritualism as formalism, not aimed at any one tradition. nirgun/'unworthy' rendered as humble smallness, not self-condemnation.