Time is precious and passing, so gather the one wealth that lasts, find the home of peace within your own inner being, and ask only to stay humbly near the wise.
The Arc
Pauri 0 (Rahao) sounds a gentle wake-up: life shortens day by day, so meet the Teacher and set your real work right. Pauri 1 is a tender appeal to friends — now is the season to serve the good and gather the Name's true profit. Pauri 2: the world is caught in worry and harm, but the awakened one, given a taste of the sweet essence, knows the wordless truth. Pauri 3: buy the one thing you came for, find the home of peace within your own being, and return no more to the cycle of birth and death. Pauri 4 closes humbly: the one gift asked for is to be the dust of the Saints' feet — closeness to goodness.
Key Vocabulary
a-odh ghatai: 'the life-span shortens' — memento mori softened to the preciousness of time
har laahaa: the Lord's profit — the inner wealth worth gathering
akath kathaa: the 'unspoken speech' — truth too real to fit in words
nij ghar: 'one's own home' — the home of one's own inner being, where the Mansion of peace is found; often rendered in modern commentary as the true inner self
Themes and Cross-Connections
The merchant metaphor (earn the Name's profit here, dwell in peace ahead) is Guru Arjan's recurring image for investing in what lasts, kin to 445's 'wealth of the Name, forever new.' 'The home within your own self' (nij ghar) is the same inward turn as 437's 'why go outside?' The closing 'dust of the Saints' feet' is empty-handed humility toward grace, not self-abasement.
For Raag Gauree
Gauree's serious, contemplative mood carries the memento-mori theme without gloom — the urgency is caring, the tone that of reminding someone you love not to waste a beautiful, finite day.
Time is precious and passing, so gather the one wealth that lasts, find the home of peace within your own inner being, and ask only to stay humbly near the wise.
The Arc
Pauri 0 (Rahao) sounds a gentle wake-up: life shortens day by day, so meet the Teacher and set your real work right. Pauri 1 is a tender appeal to friends — now is the season to serve the good and gather the Name's true profit. Pauri 2: the world is caught in worry and harm, but the awakened one, given a taste of the sweet essence, knows the wordless truth. Pauri 3: buy the one thing you came for, find the home of peace within your own being, and return no more to the cycle of birth and death. Pauri 4 closes humbly: the one gift asked for is to be the dust of the Saints' feet — closeness to goodness.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The merchant metaphor (earn the Name's profit here, dwell in peace ahead) is Guru Arjan's recurring image for investing in what lasts, kin to 445's 'wealth of the Name, forever new.' 'The home within your own self' (nij ghar) is the same inward turn as 437's 'why go outside?' The closing 'dust of the Saints' feet' is empty-handed humility toward grace, not self-abasement.
For Raag Gauree
Gauree's serious, contemplative mood carries the memento-mori theme without gloom — the urgency is caring, the tone that of reminding someone you love not to waste a beautiful, finite day.