My mind keeps getting pulled — how do I cross? Mercy is poured out, and like iron floated over on a raft of wood, the ones who cling to the One are carried across.
The Arc
Guru Ram Das admits his mind is pulled by attachment and asks how he could ever cross. Mercy is poured out, and the teacher carries you over. The verses ask the Father for the understanding to sing praise, picture iron ferried across on wood, note how a heart cut off from the One stays restless, and end with grace washing the weight away.
Key Vocabulary
lubhat / mohi: lured / by attachment
narhar: the One (Lord of beings)
kaasat loh: wood and iron
saakat: one cut off, turned only outward
santokh gur saraa: the Guru's cleansing pool of contentment
paar paraa: carried across
Themes and Cross-Connections
The iron-and-wood image (sang kaasat loh taraa) is the shabad's jewel: iron sinks, but lashed to wood it floats — so a heavy heart, tied to the One, is carried over. Durmat mail ga-ee (the clouded thinking washed away) frames ego and confusion as dirt that rinses off, not a stain that damns.
For Raag Bilaaval
Bilaaval's well-being here is the lightness after the wash — the restless, pulled mind rinsed clean in the Guru's pool of contentment and floated across.
Translation Notes
Verse 3's saakat nar... bhaagheen duhchaaree... janam mu-ay fir maraa (SSK: "faithless cynics... unfortunate and vicious... die and reincarnate") is rendered per the standing rule as influence-wisdom, not contempt: a heart cut off from the One stays restless and circling, described with compassion rather than condemnation.
My mind keeps getting pulled — how do I cross? Mercy is poured out, and like iron floated over on a raft of wood, the ones who cling to the One are carried across.
The Arc
Guru Ram Das admits his mind is pulled by attachment and asks how he could ever cross. Mercy is poured out, and the teacher carries you over. The verses ask the Father for the understanding to sing praise, picture iron ferried across on wood, note how a heart cut off from the One stays restless, and end with grace washing the weight away.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The iron-and-wood image (sang kaasat loh taraa) is the shabad's jewel: iron sinks, but lashed to wood it floats — so a heavy heart, tied to the One, is carried over. Durmat mail ga-ee (the clouded thinking washed away) frames ego and confusion as dirt that rinses off, not a stain that damns.
For Raag Bilaaval
Bilaaval's well-being here is the lightness after the wash — the restless, pulled mind rinsed clean in the Guru's pool of contentment and floated across.
Translation Notes
Verse 3's saakat nar... bhaagheen duhchaaree... janam mu-ay fir maraa (SSK: "faithless cynics... unfortunate and vicious... die and reincarnate") is rendered per the standing rule as influence-wisdom, not contempt: a heart cut off from the One stays restless and circling, described with compassion rather than condemnation.
Last updated: 2026-07-08