Like a farmer working for the harvest, the devotee's steady remembrance bears fruit -- while chasing profit only grows attachment, a noose around the neck.
The Arc
Pauri 0: farmers labor so their children may eat; so the servants chant, and in the end the One saves them. The Rahao (Pauri 1): I am foolish -- set me to the work of serving the Guru. Pauri 2: horse-traders chase profit and grow more attached; the servants chant and find peace. Pauri 3: shopkeepers gather poison in false trade; the servants gather the Name as their provisions. Pauri 4 closes: attachment and duality are a noose, but the teaching carries the servants across into the joy of humble service.
Key Vocabulary
farmer-simile: patient labor for a harvest -- the model of steady remembrance
horse-traders: chasing profit that only deepens attachment to Maya
Name as provisions: the wealth packed for the journey, against the world's poison
noose: attachment and duality that bind, cut only by the Guru's teaching
Themes and Cross-Connections
The shabad contrasts two economies through labor-similes (philosophy.md, Naam; Panch Vikaar): the world's trade inflames greed and binds with a noose of attachment, while the devotee's "trade" -- the Name -- yields peace and provisions for the road. The release is the Guru's teaching, ending in the glad humility of daasan daas (philosophy.md, Sat Sangat; Grihast).
For Raag Gauree
Gauree Bairaagan's sober mood suits this weighing of how a life is spent. Drawing on the everyday world of farmers, horse-traders, and shopkeepers, Ram Das makes the spiritual economy concrete -- and lands on the noose of clinging versus the freedom of humble service.
Like a farmer working for the harvest, the devotee's steady remembrance bears fruit -- while chasing profit only grows attachment, a noose around the neck.
The Arc
Pauri 0: farmers labor so their children may eat; so the servants chant, and in the end the One saves them. The Rahao (Pauri 1): I am foolish -- set me to the work of serving the Guru. Pauri 2: horse-traders chase profit and grow more attached; the servants chant and find peace. Pauri 3: shopkeepers gather poison in false trade; the servants gather the Name as their provisions. Pauri 4 closes: attachment and duality are a noose, but the teaching carries the servants across into the joy of humble service.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The shabad contrasts two economies through labor-similes (philosophy.md, Naam; Panch Vikaar): the world's trade inflames greed and binds with a noose of attachment, while the devotee's "trade" -- the Name -- yields peace and provisions for the road. The release is the Guru's teaching, ending in the glad humility of daasan daas (philosophy.md, Sat Sangat; Grihast).
For Raag Gauree
Gauree Bairaagan's sober mood suits this weighing of how a life is spent. Drawing on the everyday world of farmers, horse-traders, and shopkeepers, Ram Das makes the spiritual economy concrete -- and lands on the noose of clinging versus the freedom of humble service.
Last updated: 2026-06-28