Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Say the beautiful Name, and let it settle in you like a favorite song you can't stop humming. It is worth more than anything you could ever buy.
When your heart is soaked in that sweetness, it gets washed clean, the way rain washes the dust off leaves.
Learn from the wise, and let your busy mind grow calm and steady, so it stops wobbling and wandering off to a hundred worries.
A heart that sings the praises of the One gets exactly what it was truly longing for.
This one asks your own soul, gently, to say the Name until the busy mind grows calm.
This is the first song of Raag Bihaagraa, by Guru Ram Das, the Fourth Guru. It is a chhant, a longer, flowing song. It speaks tenderly to mayree jindurhee-ay — "O my soul," or more sweetly, "O my dear little life." The Guru talks to his own soul the way you might coax a small child.
The main instruction is gurmat man thehraa-ee-ai — with the Guru's teaching, hold the mind steady, so it does not wander off. A wandering mind is the problem this raag keeps coming back to. Not that we are bad, but that we are scattered.
Think of a glass of muddy water. Stir it, and it stays cloudy. Let it sit still, and the mud settles and the water turns clear.
The Name is amolay, priceless, too precious to buy. Har ras is the sweet taste of the One. It is so satisfying that the mind stops chasing lesser flavors.
The last line promises man chindi-arhaa fal — the fruit the heart wished for. This raag loves that idea. What you deeply long for, and what remembering gives, turn out to be the same thing.
When your mind starts to wander off, what is one gentle way you could bring it back?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI