A Mind Dyed in Love, Resting: That's the Gift

ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਸਦਾ ਸੁਖਦਾਤਾ ॥

har har naam sadaa sukh-daata.

The Name of the Lord, Har, Har, is forever the Giver of peace.

ਹਰਿ ਕੈ ਰੰਗਿ ਮੇਰਾ ਮਨੁ ਰਾਤਾ ॥

har kai rang mayraa man raataa.

My mind is imbued with the Lord's Love.

ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਮਹਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਗੁਰੁ ਮੇਲਹੁ ਗੁਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਮਿ ਸੁਖੁ ਹੋਈ ਰਾਮ ॥੪॥੧॥੭॥

har har mahaa purakh gur maylhu gur naanak naam sukh ho-ee raam. ||4||1||7||

O Lord Har, Har, lead me to meet the Guru, the Greatest Being; through the Name of Guru Nanak, I have found peace. ||4||1||7||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

The Name of the One is forever the Giver of peace.

My mind is dyed in the One's love.

O One, lead me to the teacher, the greatest of all; through the Name of Guru Nanak, I have found peace.

This short song says three times what it's really about: peace. A mind dyed in love, resting — that's the gift, and it's passed down through the teachers all the way from the beginning.

The deeper layer

The shabad closes by naming its own gift three times over: peace. "Forever the Giver of peace... I have found peace." And it ends by naming Guru Nanak himself — "through the Name of Guru Nanak, I have found peace" — Guru Ram Das (the Fourth Guru) locating the source of his peace in the line of teaching that began with Nanak. The mind "dyed in the One's love" (Rang again) is at rest. This short, song-like shabad has done quietly what the longer ones do at length: pointed to the Name held in mind, the teacher who reveals it, and the peace and permanent color that follow — the whole of the raag's Mehl 4 teaching, distilled.

A Question to Sit With

What does real peace feel like to you? Is it the absence of trouble, or something steadier underneath?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

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