As fire is never satisfied by fuel, the heart is never full without the One — but the Name is a treasure of peace beyond all price.
The Arc
This shabad is a meditation on the bottomlessness of wanting. The greatest kings cannot quench their thirst; a fire is never full of fuel; a restless heart eats and eats and stays hungry, grabbing and regretting. Then the turn: the Name alone is the priceless treasure, and those who hold it rest in peace, ease, and joy. The contrast is stark and kind — endless wanting on one side, quiet fullness on the other.
Key Vocabulary
trisan / trisnaa: thirst, craving
bikhi-aa: the poison of hollow pursuits
paavak eeDhan: fire and fuel
chaaray kuntaa: the four directions
har har naam amolaa: the priceless Name
sookh sahj aanand: peace, ease, and bliss
Themes and Cross-Connections
The fire-and-fuel image is a classic teaching on trisnaa — that craving grows by being fed (philosophy.md, Haumai and the restless self). The resolution is the project's steady theme: the Name is what actually fills, because it is not another object to acquire but the presence of the One. The santan living in sahaj is the aligned soul at ease.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
Dhanaasaree, so often the raag of a heart reaching for what it lacks, here shows the difference between reaching that never ends and a fullness that finally lets the reaching stop.
Translation Notes
The literal renders the third stanza with explicit language of lust and adultery (a 'lustful, lecherous man' who 'commits adultery'). Following the project's wellbeing and age-appropriateness rules, this is rendered as restless craving that reaches for what belongs to others and ends in regret — keeping the teaching about insatiable desire without the adult content. bikhi-aa is given as 'hollow things' rather than 'sin and corruption.'
As fire is never satisfied by fuel, the heart is never full without the One — but the Name is a treasure of peace beyond all price.
The Arc
This shabad is a meditation on the bottomlessness of wanting. The greatest kings cannot quench their thirst; a fire is never full of fuel; a restless heart eats and eats and stays hungry, grabbing and regretting. Then the turn: the Name alone is the priceless treasure, and those who hold it rest in peace, ease, and joy. The contrast is stark and kind — endless wanting on one side, quiet fullness on the other.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The fire-and-fuel image is a classic teaching on trisnaa — that craving grows by being fed (philosophy.md, Haumai and the restless self). The resolution is the project's steady theme: the Name is what actually fills, because it is not another object to acquire but the presence of the One. The santan living in sahaj is the aligned soul at ease.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
Dhanaasaree, so often the raag of a heart reaching for what it lacks, here shows the difference between reaching that never ends and a fullness that finally lets the reaching stop.
Translation Notes
The literal renders the third stanza with explicit language of lust and adultery (a 'lustful, lecherous man' who 'commits adultery'). Following the project's wellbeing and age-appropriateness rules, this is rendered as restless craving that reaches for what belongs to others and ends in regret — keeping the teaching about insatiable desire without the adult content. bikhi-aa is given as 'hollow things' rather than 'sin and corruption.'