Raag Gond, Chaupada, Mehl 4 (Guru Ram Das)

Crowns and riches fade like a cut flower's color; the heart that holds the One outranks every label the world hands out.

The Arc

• Verse 1 (P0): kings and rulers pass; only the imperishable One is steady — meditate and feel at home.
• The Rahau (P1): the Name is your defender; one who reaches the One is beyond all worldly power.
• Verse 2 (P2): the wealthy fade like the safflower's dye; serve the True One and find lasting dignity.
• Verse 3 (P3): whoever holds the One outranks every caste and rank, as a plain plant near sandalwood takes on its fragrance.
• Verse 4 (P4): the heart where the One dwells is highest and purest — honor flows to devotion, not birth.

Key Vocabulary

• mithi-aa / jhooth — fleeting, unreal; the nature of worldly power.
• abhinaasee — imperishable, the One that does not fade.
• kasumbh — safflower, whose brilliant dye quickly washes out.
• chaar varan, chaar aasram — the four castes and four life-stages of the society being addressed.
• pardhaan — most distinguished; here awarded by devotion, not birth.
• neech jaat — one the world ranked low; honored here as the One's own.

Themes and Cross-Connections

This is one of Gond's clearest leveling shabads. It sets the whole ladder of worldly status — kings, nobles, wealth, caste — against a single equalizer: the One in the heart. The castor-plant-and-sandalwood image says transformation comes through nearness to goodness, available to anyone. The vision is squarely that of Guru Nanak's radical inclusivity, where every hierarchy is a confusion.

For Raag Gond

Gond carries this bright leveling message well; the raag's calling warmth turns what could be a rebuke of the powerful into an open invitation — anyone, from any rank, may become parvaan, welcome.

Translation Notes

• Caste-leveling foregrounded (P3, P4): the four castes and stages are named as the world's categories and then dissolved; jo har dhi-aavai so pardhaan and the honoring of a neech jaat servant are read as deliberate reversals of hierarchy, in keeping with the project's woman- and caste-honoring commitments. Handled evenhandedly — the target is ranking itself, not any community.

Last updated: 2026-07-09