O my tongue, be dyed in the brightest color there is, the Name.
The Arc
The shabad moves from the tongue's one true purpose (the Name), to being dyed in the Name's unfading color, to the deep peace it brings, to one true devotion outweighing a million rituals, and finally to the One whose forms are endless, seen everywhere.
Key Vocabulary
Jihbaa the tongue, whose truest work is the Name.
Surang the most excellent, unfading color, into which the tongue is dyed.
Nirbaan pad the state of deep, unshakable peace (nirvana), reached through the Name.
Anant roop the endless forms of the One, the immanence teaching.
Naaraa-in / Gobind names of the One, held tenderly.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Devotion over ritual quantity; the Name as the one worthy work of speech; and the closing immanence line, the One in endless forms, which opens Namdev's whole Bhairao theme of the One in everything. Connects to the project-wide teaching that quality of love outweighs quantity of ritual.
For Raag Bhairao
The opening comp of Namdev's Bhairao (Ghar 1). Bhairao's boldness here becomes the boldness of single-hearted love.
Translation Notes
The opening vow, in the original a fierce image of cutting the tongue, is bent to its kernel: the tongue's whole purpose is the Name. Self-harm imagery is dropped and chanting is kept fully positive, per the wellbeing guidance. Anant roop is foregrounded as immanence.
O my tongue, be dyed in the brightest color there is, the Name.
The Arc
The shabad moves from the tongue's one true purpose (the Name), to being dyed in the Name's unfading color, to the deep peace it brings, to one true devotion outweighing a million rituals, and finally to the One whose forms are endless, seen everywhere.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Devotion over ritual quantity; the Name as the one worthy work of speech; and the closing immanence line, the One in endless forms, which opens Namdev's whole Bhairao theme of the One in everything. Connects to the project-wide teaching that quality of love outweighs quantity of ritual.
For Raag Bhairao
The opening comp of Namdev's Bhairao (Ghar 1). Bhairao's boldness here becomes the boldness of single-hearted love.
Translation Notes
The opening vow, in the original a fierce image of cutting the tongue, is bent to its kernel: the tongue's whole purpose is the Name. Self-harm imagery is dropped and chanting is kept fully positive, per the wellbeing guidance. Anant roop is foregrounded as immanence.