Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
God Himself colors you with His love, and He does it easily — like dye soaking into cloth without any fight. When the Guru's words go into you, the color of love spreads through your whole self. Your mind, your body, even your tongue turn the deep red of a poppy flower. You don't paint yourself this color by trying hard — love and a kind of sweet awe of God do it for you.
The image at the heart of this stanza is rang — color, dye. In Raag Maajh the world has its own dyes too: excitement, fame, things we want. But those colors are what the tradition calls kachaa — they wash out. The color God gives is pakkaa — permanent. Notice who does the dyeing: "He Himself" (aapay). You don't grab the love; it soaks into you when you stop guarding yourself against it.
And it happens sahaj — effortlessly, naturally. Guru Amar Das keeps returning to this word. Sahaj is not something you can force or earn by straining. The dye doesn't seep in faster if the cloth tenses up. It seeps in when the cloth simply rests in the color. The carrier of that color is the shabad — the Guru's word. When the shabad enters, the color comes with it.
The last line names two feelings that let the color set: bhai (a tender awe, not fear of punishment) and bhaai (love). Together they make the dye hold. You become so saturated that even your tongue is dyed — meaning what you say, what you taste of life, is now the color of the One.
What in your life is a color that washes off, and what is a color that has soaked in to stay?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI