Raag Bilaaval
Commentary

Raag Bilaaval, Dupda, Mehl 5 (Guru Arjan)

Ill-will falls apart under its own weight; keep your goodness.

The Arc

The Rahau notices, plainly, that ill-will undoes itself — a wall of salty sand that cannot hold. The verse sees how fault-finding sours even at others' good news, an exhausting way to live, and turns to the counsel: keep being good, and do not let anyone talk you out of it. The close names the One as protector, so fear runs out of room.

Key Vocabulary

  • nindak: ill-will, slander
  • kaalar bheet: a saline-sand wall
  • buraa chitvat: churning plans that never work
  • raakhaa aap prabh: the One as protector

Themes and Cross-Connections

Ill-will as self-defeating, keeping one's own goodness, and fearlessness under the One's protection.

For Raag Bilaaval

Even the hardest social sting resolves, in this raag, into steadiness.

Translation Notes

SSK dwells on the slanderer's death and calls him wretched; per the wellbeing and voice rules the death-terror and contempt are set aside. Kept: ill-will collapses on its own, goodness is worth holding, and the One protects — echoing the raag's earlier counsel not to give up goodness when slandered.

Last updated: 2026-07-08

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