Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
I am so proud of you, my Creator — proud and glad to be yours. Held up by your endless power, I live in peace.
And the true Word is the banner I carry — the flag that shows, for all to see, whose I am.
This shabad opens with a note of glad belonging — I am so proud of You, O Creator; I am so proud of You. It is the pride not of the ego but of the child glad to belong to a good parent, the soldier proud of a true king. And from that belonging comes peace: through Your Almighty Power, I dwell in peace. The soul rests not on its own strength but on the One's almighty power — held up, and therefore unafraid.
The stanza's striking image is its last line: the True Word of the Shabad is my banner and insignia. A banner is what an army carries into the field, the flag that declares whose side you are on, visible from far off. Guru Arjan says the Shabad, the Word, is his banner — the standard he marches under, the insignia that shows, openly and proudly, that he belongs to the One. This is faith worn not as a private secret but as a flag held high. The soul proud to belong to its Creator does not hide that belonging; it carries the Word like a banner, declaring its allegiance for all to see. This is the Rahao, the refrain — the heart of the shabad — and it sets the key: glad belonging, peace through the One's power, and the Word carried high as the soul's true colors.
Is your deepest allegiance something you carry like a banner, or keep hidden — and which feels truer to live?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI