Empire or begging, one stone or another — the One alone, present everywhere.
The Arc
Naam Dayv opens with equanimity: neither empire nor beggary touches his real worth (P0); the peace of remembrance is what he values (P1). Even confusion is within the One's play, and understanding is given (P2); the teaching clears doubt, leaving no other to worship (P3); and the famous idol-critique closes it — if one stone is a god, so is the one underfoot; I serve the formless One (P4).
Key Vocabulary
empire vs. begging — fortune's extremes that don't touch the core (P0).
"I can see no other" — the non-dual ground beneath the idol-critique (P3).
"one stone adored, another walked on" — the critique of confining the divine to an object (P4).
Themes and Cross-Connections
The idol-critique (P4) is Naam Dayv's most famous verse, kin to Nanak's iconoclasm (B00C1024) and Kabir's "living God in every leaf" (Aasaa B00C983) — the divine is everywhere, so it cannot be monopolized by one image. Equanimity before fortune (P0) restates the raag's steadiness (B00C1047 P2).
Translation Notes
P4 the idol-critique is rendered evenhandedly, per the project's rules: it targets the confining of the formless divine to a single carved object, not the people who revere images; the positive point is that the One is equally present in all things.
For Raag Goojaree
Naam Dayv gives the raag a jewel of non-dual iconoclasm: unmoved by empire or begging, seeing only the One, he refuses to shrink God into a single stone — because God is in every stone, and beyond them all.
Empire or begging, one stone or another — the One alone, present everywhere.
The Arc
Naam Dayv opens with equanimity: neither empire nor beggary touches his real worth (P0); the peace of remembrance is what he values (P1). Even confusion is within the One's play, and understanding is given (P2); the teaching clears doubt, leaving no other to worship (P3); and the famous idol-critique closes it — if one stone is a god, so is the one underfoot; I serve the formless One (P4).
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The idol-critique (P4) is Naam Dayv's most famous verse, kin to Nanak's iconoclasm (B00C1024) and Kabir's "living God in every leaf" (Aasaa B00C983) — the divine is everywhere, so it cannot be monopolized by one image. Equanimity before fortune (P0) restates the raag's steadiness (B00C1047 P2).
Translation Notes
For Raag Goojaree
Naam Dayv gives the raag a jewel of non-dual iconoclasm: unmoved by empire or begging, seeing only the One, he refuses to shrink God into a single stone — because God is in every stone, and beyond them all.