Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I give myself completely to those who become beautiful through the Name of the One, **Har, Har**. Facing the light, they *sing*; facing the light, they *dance* — and all the while they keep their whole attention fixed on the One.
This is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line — the center of the shabad. It shows the gurmukh, the one facing the light, full of joy: singing and dancing, with a still heart in the middle.
Gurmukh gaavai gurmukh naachai — facing the light, they sing; facing the light, they dance. An earlier shabad spoke of the true dance being on the inside. Here the gurmukh's life is simply joyful. This matters. A life with the One is not grim or gloomy. The gurmukh is not sitting stone-faced. They are singing and dancing, lit up with gladness. Turning toward the light makes you happy.
But look at what holds the singing and dancing together: har saytee chit laavani-aa — they keep their chit, their attention, fixed on the One. That is the key. This dancing is not an empty show with a scattered mind, the kind the earlier shabad warned about. It is joy with an anchor. Think of a spinning top. It whirls beautifully because it has a still point at its center. The gurmukh's outer joy spins around an inner stillness fixed on the One.
The word the singer bows to is suhaavani-aa — made beautiful. Ha-o vaaree jee-o vaaree har har naam suhaavani-aa — I give myself to those made beautiful by the Name, Har, Har. What makes them beautiful is not skill or show. It is the Name, said again and again with love. The doubled Har Har shows simran, remembering the Name over and over until it soaks in. So the pause line paints the gurmukh's whole life in one bright picture: made beautiful by the Name, singing and dancing with joy, all of it turning around a still center fixed on the One.
Have you ever felt joyful and free precisely because something steady at your center made you feel safe? What was that anchor?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI