Raag Bilaaval
Commentary

- Raag Bilaaval, Dupda, Mehl 5 (Guru Arjan)

The feeling of being all alone is a curtain that can lift.

The Arc

The Rahau asks never to be forgotten and points to a love carried from the very start. The first verse leans on the One's cleansing nature and asks that the curtain of ego be gently burned away. The close draws longing as the most natural thing alive -- fish to water, baby to milk -- ending in the peace of simply seeing the Beloved.

Key Vocabulary

  • apnay sayvak ka-o kabahu na bisaarahu: never forget Your own
  • poorab preet: a love from the beginning
  • patit paavan... birad: the settled nature that makes clean again
  • ha-umai patal... jaarahu: the curtain of ego, gently burned away
  • jal bihoon meen: the fish without water
  • pi-aas charan kamlan: thirst for the lotus feet

Themes and Cross-Connections

Belonging, the healing of ego, and natural longing: ha-umai pictured as a curtain of separateness to be lifted, and desire for the One drawn as life-giving rather than desperate.

For Raag Bilaaval

Bilaaval's yearning-key -- longing that feels like homecoming, not lack.

Translation Notes

ha-umai patal (the curtain of egotism) is framed as separateness to heal, not a crime -- ego as disease to be healed, per the voice rules.

Last updated: 2026-07-08

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