Raag Bhairao
Commentary

Raag Bhairao, Shabad, Mehl 5 (Guru Arjan Dev)

"With Your support, I stand."

The Arc

An anaphora of leaning — tayree teik — carrying through standing steady in hard times, support in this world and beyond, the crossing of a wide rough sea, being fully known from within, and closing in joyful, trusting remembrance.

Key Vocabulary

  • teik — support, the thing you lean on.
  • kal — the dark, harsh age.
  • bha-o saagar — the fearsome world-ocean.
  • sukh saagar — the ocean of peace.
  • antarjaamee — the inner-knower.
  • bharvaasaa — trust, reliance.

Themes and Cross-Connections

Leaning and support; being fully known; trust that is also joyful. Connects to mannai as living from trust rather than mere belief, and to the world-ocean crossed with grace.

For Raag Bhairao

The raag's strength becomes the strength of something steady to lean on.

Translation Notes

Wellbeing: the dark age (kal maahi) and the fearsome world-ocean (bha-o saagar) are rendered lightly as harsh, confusing times and a wide, rough sea; death cannot touch (na pohai kaal) becomes fear cannot reach.

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