Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O my mind, say the Name of the One — again and again, with love.
The one who faces the teacher is dyed the deep red of the poppy; even their shawl is soaked through with the One's love.
The dye image is central here. In the old Punjab, some dyes washed out and some held forever. Guru Ram Das says the Gurmukh — the one facing the teaching — is soaked in the fast, permanent crimson of love, so deeply that even their clothing is saturated. This is a picture of transformation that goes all the way through. You cannot be a little bit dyed; the color is either surface-deep and fading, or it has soaked into the fiber. The instruction that opens it is simple repetition: say the Name, with love, again and again — not as a magic spell but as the practice of keeping the One in mind.
What is something that has changed you so deeply you could never go back to how you saw things before?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI