Raag Maaroo
Commentary

Raag Maaroo, Chau-Padas, Mehl 5 (Guru Arjan)

Do not forget the Giver of your very breath - and know that the one Name carries every kind of person across.

The Arc

Opening Ghar 3, a call not to forget the Giver of life, warnings against trading the real support for the passing, the muddle of mistaking lasting for passing, and the ringing caste-leveling close - all ranks cross through the one Name.

Key Vocabulary

  • praan sukhdaata - the Giver of peace to the breath of life
  • dulabh janam - this rare, precious human life
  • sarangdhar / dharneedhar - the Support of the earth
  • the four ranks - khatree, braahman, sood, vais

Themes and Cross-Connections

This rare life as precious; ego as "me, me, me"; the one Name that levels all rank.

For Raag Maaroo

The memento-mori ("do not let this precious life slip") is gratitude-forward, and the crossing is opened to every person alike.

Translation Notes

"neech kul" and "daasee" (serving "her of lowly ancestry," Maya-as-slave-girl) are read as a metaphor for attachment and rendered simply as "the passing things," dropping the literal low-birth and gendered wording; "ignorant / foolish / blind" rendered gently as "losing our way / a mix-up / cannot see clearly," not insult; the caste-leveling close (all four ranks cross through the one Name) foregrounded as the shabad's keynote.

Last updated: 2026-07-09

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