Is there a friend who can free me, steady my mind, speak the Name to me? For such a friend I would give my very soul.
The Arc
This shabad is a search for a friend. It opens with a longing question — is there anyone who can loosen the bonds, bring the seeker to the One, and steady the restless mind? — and the Rahao answers that for such a friend one would give everything. The verses give practical direction (turn love from envy and gossip toward good company and praise), and the close reveals that the friend so longed for is the One, who holds the seeker like a mother her child.
Key Vocabulary
chhutkaavai: releases, unbinds
asthir / nihchal: steady, unwavering
sagal samagree jee-o hee-o: all belongings, soul, and heart
nindaa: speaking ill of others
keertan man jaagai: praise keeps the mind awake
ji-o maataa baal: as a mother with her child
Themes and Cross-Connections
The search-for-a-friend framing turns the longing of Dhanaasaree into a relationship rather than an achievement (philosophy.md, Naam as living presence). The practical instruction to aim love away from envy and nindaa and toward keertan is everyday ethics, and the closing mother-and-child image — shared with 1417 — marks the tender intimacy that unifies this Guru Arjan set.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
In the raag of longing, this shabad names the longing outright as the search for a friend, and answers it with the discovery that the truest friend was never far: the One holds the seeker as a mother holds her child.
Is there a friend who can free me, steady my mind, speak the Name to me? For such a friend I would give my very soul.
The Arc
This shabad is a search for a friend. It opens with a longing question — is there anyone who can loosen the bonds, bring the seeker to the One, and steady the restless mind? — and the Rahao answers that for such a friend one would give everything. The verses give practical direction (turn love from envy and gossip toward good company and praise), and the close reveals that the friend so longed for is the One, who holds the seeker like a mother her child.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The search-for-a-friend framing turns the longing of Dhanaasaree into a relationship rather than an achievement (philosophy.md, Naam as living presence). The practical instruction to aim love away from envy and nindaa and toward keertan is everyday ethics, and the closing mother-and-child image — shared with 1417 — marks the tender intimacy that unifies this Guru Arjan set.
For Raag Dhanaasaree
In the raag of longing, this shabad names the longing outright as the search for a friend, and answers it with the discovery that the truest friend was never far: the One holds the seeker as a mother holds her child.