Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Holding tight to the edge of the One's robe, we live, and we cross the rough sea of the world.
Joining the company of the holy, we are carried safely across, and our faces shine at the One's door.
This stanza gives two images of rescue, both familiar across this raag. The first: grasping the hem of His robe, we live, and cross over the terrifying world-ocean. The gesture of clutching the hem of the robe — like a small child holding a parent's clothing in a crowd — is the posture of humble, trusting dependence that the tradition prizes above heroic effort. You do not swim the terrifying world-ocean (bhavjal) by your own strength; you cross it by holding on to the One, carried by the very robe you grip. And note the word we live — the holding is not only a means of crossing but the source of life itself; to grasp the One is to live.
The second image is the Saadh Sangat: joining the Company of the Holy, one is saved, and one's face becomes radiant in the Court. The crossing is made not alone but in company — among the holy, the soul is saved, carried across, and arrives at the One's Court with a radiant face. The radiant face is the recurring image of a soul that has lived rightly and arrives home honored, lit from within. Together the two images give the whole method of rescue in this raag: hold tight to the One (the hem of the robe) and keep the company of the holy (the Saadh Sangat), and the terrifying ocean is crossed, life is found, and the soul shines at the door of home.
When the 'sea' of life feels overwhelming, do you try to swim it alone, or hold on and travel in good company?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI