Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Your Word, the Word of the One, is like sweet nectar to me. The more I listen to it, again and again, the higher my soul rises, the freer I feel. The fire that was burning inside me has gone out, and my mind has cooled right down — calm at last — just from getting to see my true teacher.
This Rahao is about the cooling power of the sacred Word. Amrit banee har har teree — "your banee (Word) is amrit (nectar)." The Word of the One is not dry instruction; it is nectar, sweet and life-giving, the deathless drink. And the way to receive it is by listening: sun sun hovai param gat meree — "by sun sun (hearing and hearing, listening again and again) my param gat (supreme state, highest liberation) comes about." Note the doubling sun sun — listening is not a one-time act but a repeated steeping, the practice of receiving the Word through the ear (recall suneeai across the section).
The heart of the verse is a vivid image of relief: jalan bujhee seetal hoe manooaa — "the jalan (burning, the fire) was bujhee (extinguished, put out), and the manooaa (the poor little mind) became seetal (cool)." What is this jalan, this burning? It is the fever of the restless, craving, anxious mind — the heat of haumai, of desire that never rests, of worry that never quiets. We have met it as the running yogi (Shabad 10), the hungry chaser (Shabad 13). Here it is named directly as a fire inside. And the Word, the darshan of the Guru, puts it out — like water on flames, like the monsoon ending the scorching dry season.
The word seetal (cool) is one of Guru Arjan's signature words for this relief (Shabad 10, Shabad 17) — the breaking of fever, the shade after blazing heat, the cool air after the rains. And notice how the cooling comes: satgur kaa darsan paae — "by getting the darshan (sight) of the true Guru." Just seeing the Guru extinguishes the fire. The burning mind does not cool itself by trying harder to relax (which only stokes the fire); it cools when it beholds the Guru and drinks the nectar-Word. The Rahao sets the shabad's theme: the inner fire of the restless mind is put out, and the soul cooled, by the nectar of the Word and the sight of the Guru — and the rest of the shabad will spread this cooling outward to the whole watered world.
The verse describes a "burning" inside that finally cools. What does it feel like when your mind is "on fire" — restless, anxious, craving? What actually cools it down?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI