Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Then the One, full of kindness, gathered me in and made me its own.
It took me by the arm and lifted me right out of the mud, and set me among loving people.
In that good company, the old aches and mistakes simply burned away.
This is the truest kind of goodness, the best gift you can give — and the one that travels with you.
My tongue keeps saying the one beautiful Name, and my whole self is soaked in it.
Whoever the One draws close is filled, right up, with every good thing.
After three wake-up verses, the Chhant turns into rescue and joy — the same warning-then-grace arc as Shabad 13. The signature image is baanhi gahi kaadhiaa... teh dhaaey — "grasping me by the arm, He pulled me out of the mud." To be lifted from the mud is to be rescued from being stuck: not punished for falling in, simply pulled out. And where is one set down? Saadh sangat — among loving people. The verse then makes a quiet but radical claim: this — remembrance in good company — is "the greatest religion (dharam) and the best act of charity (daan), and this alone goes along with you." Of all the good deeds one could do, keeping the heart turned toward the One is the highest, and it's the one thing death can't take. The Chhant (and this run of Guru Arjan's Bihaagraa Chhants) closes on bhare bhandaar — filled to overflowing with every virtue. For a child: however stuck in the mud you feel, you can be lifted out and set among people who love you — and the best, most lasting thing you can ever do is keep your heart pointed toward the good.
Who has ever 'pulled you out of the mud' when you were stuck — and how did it feel?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI