ਨਾਮਾ ਸੁਲਤਾਨੇ ਬਾਧਿਲਾ ॥
naamaa sultaanay baaDhilaa.
The Sultan arrested Naam Dayv,
ਦੇਖਉ ਤੇਰਾ ਹਰਿ ਬੀਠੁਲਾ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
daykh-a-u tayraa har beethulaa. ||1|| rahaa-o.
and said, "Let me see your Beloved Lord."||1||Pause||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Sultan has Namdev seized and tied up.
"Now let me see this Beloved Lord of yours," he says.
They can hold your body, but not the One you carry inside.
Power can tie up a person's body, and still it cannot reach the One that person loves.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. Naamaa sultaanay baaDhilaa: the Sultan has Namdev bound. Daykh-a-u tayraa har beethulaa: let me see your Hari, your Beethul. Beethul (Vitthal) is a tender name for the One, dear to Namdev's people. The whole story turns around this moment: a king holding a singer prisoner and demanding to see the One the singer loves. Love itself cannot be arrested.
A Question to Sit With
What is something no one could ever take away from you?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
Use ← → to navigate