A love-song of longing answered: come to me, Beloved — I think of You with every breath — until Your company fills the world with joy, my heart blossoms, my wilted life turns green, and I rest in a bliss almost too great to hold.
The Arc
This chhant moves from aching longing to overflowing reunion. Verse 1 (Pauri 0) is the cry: come to me, Beloved; night and day I think of You; without You how can I cross? Verse 2: in Your company I rejoice, the whole world becomes home, my heart blossoms. Verse 3: loving service and keeping the Name close, offered as prayer. Verse 4: the wish fulfilled, mind and body green again, sorrow lifted, resting in unbearable bliss.
Key Vocabulary
jee-o: a tender endearment ("dear one") closing each line — the chhant's love-song register
saas saas chitaaray: "remembering with each breath" — ceaseless love
bigsandaa: "blossoming" (vigaas) — the heart opening like a flower
daasan daas: "servant of servants" — the humblest place, chosen freely out of love
man tan hari-aa: "mind and body turned green" — a wilted life reviving
ajar sukh: "unbearable bliss" — joy almost too vast to hold
Themes and Cross-Connections
This chhant sings the love-longing current of Gurbani, where the seeker is a lover aching for the Beloved (see philosophy.md on devotion and vigaas). The message carried by the sant reflects how nearness to the One often comes through good company. Seva and simran are braided in verse 3, and the arc from longing to ajar sukh mirrors the soul's movement from felt separation to recognized union — the Ik Onkar recognition felt as reunion.
Translation Notes
This shabad has no rahao; it is a four-verse chhant, and Pauri 0 carries the full opening verse (||1||), ending on a jee-o refrain rather than a Pause. The Sant Singh Khalsa literal renders charan pakhaar (Pauri 2 / verse 3) as "I wash Your feet"; this devotional-care imagery is softened to "tend and cherish" for young readers while keeping the tenderness. Ajar sukh ("unbearable/unendurable bliss") is rendered as "joy almost too great to hold" to keep the sense positive and vivid.
For Raag Gauree
In its Maajh mode, Gauree's contemplative gravity warms into the tender ache and blossoming joy of a love-song — reflection become longing, and longing become reunion.
A love-song of longing answered: come to me, Beloved — I think of You with every breath — until Your company fills the world with joy, my heart blossoms, my wilted life turns green, and I rest in a bliss almost too great to hold.
The Arc
This chhant moves from aching longing to overflowing reunion. Verse 1 (Pauri 0) is the cry: come to me, Beloved; night and day I think of You; without You how can I cross? Verse 2: in Your company I rejoice, the whole world becomes home, my heart blossoms. Verse 3: loving service and keeping the Name close, offered as prayer. Verse 4: the wish fulfilled, mind and body green again, sorrow lifted, resting in unbearable bliss.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
This chhant sings the love-longing current of Gurbani, where the seeker is a lover aching for the Beloved (see philosophy.md on devotion and vigaas). The message carried by the sant reflects how nearness to the One often comes through good company. Seva and simran are braided in verse 3, and the arc from longing to ajar sukh mirrors the soul's movement from felt separation to recognized union — the Ik Onkar recognition felt as reunion.
Translation Notes
This shabad has no rahao; it is a four-verse chhant, and Pauri 0 carries the full opening verse (||1||), ending on a jee-o refrain rather than a Pause. The Sant Singh Khalsa literal renders charan pakhaar (Pauri 2 / verse 3) as "I wash Your feet"; this devotional-care imagery is softened to "tend and cherish" for young readers while keeping the tenderness. Ajar sukh ("unbearable/unendurable bliss") is rendered as "joy almost too great to hold" to keep the sense positive and vivid.
For Raag Gauree
In its Maajh mode, Gauree's contemplative gravity warms into the tender ache and blossoming joy of a love-song — reflection become longing, and longing become reunion.