You were held before you were born; what we pile up does not come with us; every living thing is the One's making; and when we are lost in the fog, a Hand lifts us out.
The Arc
A shabad of the Maker's care. It opens with the One who formed us before birth and set us into a world of good things. The Rahau reminds us the things we pile up serve us neither in life nor in leaving. The verses celebrate the Maker of the seasons who reunites the separated and raises the small, name every kind of life as the One's own handiwork, and close with the empty-handed self lifted out of the fog of clinging.
Key Vocabulary
jin too bandh kar chhodi-aa: the One who shaped and released you
tootaa lay gaadhai: the Reuniter of the separated
andaj jayraj saytaj ut-bhujaa: the four sources of all life
ham tay kachhoo na hovnaa: empty-handedness before the One
moh magan koop: the fog of clinging — softened from the dark pit
Themes and Cross-Connections
One-life-in-every-body sounds clearly here: eggs, wombs, warmth, earth — all one Maker's handiwork, all kin. The Reuniter of the separated is a comfort the batch returns to whenever it touches loss.
For Raag Bilaaval
Bilaaval's warmth here is cosmic and tender at once — the same One who turns the seasons also brings the parted back together.
Translation Notes
The opening bandh kar chhodi-aa and the closing koop andh carry womb and dark-pit imagery. Per the wellbeing rules, the womb line is rendered as being formed before birth and set into a world of joy, and the dark pit becomes a fog of clinging — keeping the teaching of care and rescue without the frightening pictures.
You were held before you were born; what we pile up does not come with us; every living thing is the One's making; and when we are lost in the fog, a Hand lifts us out.
The Arc
A shabad of the Maker's care. It opens with the One who formed us before birth and set us into a world of good things. The Rahau reminds us the things we pile up serve us neither in life nor in leaving. The verses celebrate the Maker of the seasons who reunites the separated and raises the small, name every kind of life as the One's own handiwork, and close with the empty-handed self lifted out of the fog of clinging.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
One-life-in-every-body sounds clearly here: eggs, wombs, warmth, earth — all one Maker's handiwork, all kin. The Reuniter of the separated is a comfort the batch returns to whenever it touches loss.
For Raag Bilaaval
Bilaaval's warmth here is cosmic and tender at once — the same One who turns the seasons also brings the parted back together.
Translation Notes
The opening bandh kar chhodi-aa and the closing koop andh carry womb and dark-pit imagery. Per the wellbeing rules, the womb line is rendered as being formed before birth and set into a world of joy, and the dark pit becomes a fog of clinging — keeping the teaching of care and rescue without the frightening pictures.
Last updated: 2026-07-08