Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Name is a jewel — say the One's Name.
Sing the One's wonder, and forever gather this profit.
O One, kind to the humble, be kind to me, and bless me with sincere longing for your Name.
"The Name is a jewel" — the raag's keynote image restated in three words. And the prayer is characteristic: not for the jewel to be given exactly, but for the longing for it to be given ("bless me with sincere yearning for the Name"). This is subtle and important. Guru Ram Das repeatedly asks not for the destination but for the desire — because the desire, the birhaa, is itself the engine that carries the soul home. To be given a deep, sincere longing for the good is already to be well on the way. He knows that the wanting, when it is real, does most of the work.
Could wanting something good, really deeply, be part of what carries you toward it? Why might the longing itself matter so much?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI