From the ache of longing — please stay close — to being fully held: the One as best friend, breath of life, and whole family, who lifts you when you slip and carries you safely across.
The Arc
The opening shabad of Gauree Bairaagan, a raag traditionally associated with longing, with its own Ik Onkar invocation, and unusually six parts. Pauri 0 (header + Rahao) is the whole prayer in one line: dear Lord, my friend, please stay with me. Pauri 1: without You I can't feel alive; every instant I would give anything for You. Pauri 2: give me the hold of Your hand, lift me when I slip — I feel small, and You are always kind to the low. Pauri 3: I can't grasp You with my mind, yet You gather the trusting in with love. Pauri 4: every treasure and true power lives in the sweetness of the Name. Pauri 5 closes: You are my whole family and the breath of my life, and in good company I am carried safely across.
Key Vocabulary
bairaagan: a raag traditionally associated with longing — the ache of missing the beloved
meetulaa: dear little friend — an affectionate diminutive for the One
gartahu udhar: lift me from the pit — asking for a hand up when stuck
nirgun / deen da-i-aal: empty-handed / always kind to the low — grace meets admitted need
maat pitaa sut bandhpo: mother, father, child, kin — the One as whole family
Themes and Cross-Connections
The longing traditionally associated with Bairaagan can be read as the engine here, and Arjan resolves it not in loss but in being fully held (compare the Wadahans raag of longing, and Shabad 177/Shabad 179's parent-and-friend images — here widened to the whole family). Pauri 4 restates Shabad 175's teaching: everything sought outside is already in the Name. The "can't grasp You with the mind, yet love gathers you in" of Pauri 3 is Gurprasad — grace crossing the gap the intellect can't.
Translation Notes
Sant Singh Khalsa renders dharig rahnaa ("cursed life"), nirgun mat thooree-aa ("worthless, shallow intellect"), the "pit," and bikh... sansaar ("poisonous world") literally. Per wellbeing rules we soften the self-condemnation to empty-handedness ("I feel small") and the harsh "cursed" to "empty and lost," and foreground safe passage over the poison/pit imagery — keeping the longing and the rescue intact.
For Raag Gauree
Bairaagan is traditionally heard as Gauree's most tender, aching register; the shabad uses that ache as the doorway into the deepest reassurance in the batch — the One as everything close, whose hand the speaker asks for and trusts when life gives way.
From the ache of longing — please stay close — to being fully held: the One as best friend, breath of life, and whole family, who lifts you when you slip and carries you safely across.
The Arc
The opening shabad of Gauree Bairaagan, a raag traditionally associated with longing, with its own Ik Onkar invocation, and unusually six parts. Pauri 0 (header + Rahao) is the whole prayer in one line: dear Lord, my friend, please stay with me. Pauri 1: without You I can't feel alive; every instant I would give anything for You. Pauri 2: give me the hold of Your hand, lift me when I slip — I feel small, and You are always kind to the low. Pauri 3: I can't grasp You with my mind, yet You gather the trusting in with love. Pauri 4: every treasure and true power lives in the sweetness of the Name. Pauri 5 closes: You are my whole family and the breath of my life, and in good company I am carried safely across.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The longing traditionally associated with Bairaagan can be read as the engine here, and Arjan resolves it not in loss but in being fully held (compare the Wadahans raag of longing, and Shabad 177/Shabad 179's parent-and-friend images — here widened to the whole family). Pauri 4 restates Shabad 175's teaching: everything sought outside is already in the Name. The "can't grasp You with the mind, yet love gathers you in" of Pauri 3 is Gurprasad — grace crossing the gap the intellect can't.
Translation Notes
Sant Singh Khalsa renders dharig rahnaa ("cursed life"), nirgun mat thooree-aa ("worthless, shallow intellect"), the "pit," and bikh... sansaar ("poisonous world") literally. Per wellbeing rules we soften the self-condemnation to empty-handedness ("I feel small") and the harsh "cursed" to "empty and lost," and foreground safe passage over the poison/pit imagery — keeping the longing and the rescue intact.
For Raag Gauree
Bairaagan is traditionally heard as Gauree's most tender, aching register; the shabad uses that ache as the doorway into the deepest reassurance in the batch — the One as everything close, whose hand the speaker asks for and trusts when life gives way.