Everyone gathers at the same riverbank — so travel light, carry only Truth, and cross without fear.
The Arc
The shabad begins by acknowledging, without grief, that all our kin come and go, while one bond — the tie to the One — cannot be broken. The rahaau sings of the weary wanderer brought home by the teaching. Then the great river-crossing imagery unfolds: aunts and uncles as boatloads of passengers, crowds gathering at the shore, the ferryman calling travelers to cross, the sturdy boat of the teaching carrying them safely. It resolves in counsel to travel light with only Truth, and closes on Guru Nanak's radiant humility: claim no goodness, see no one as bad.
Key Vocabulary
Sachaa saak — the true, unbreakable relationship with the One
Balihaaree — 'I am a sacrifice to' — the language of overflowing gratitude
Pahee / pahee-aah — travelers, passengers embarking on a journey
Bohith — the boat (of the teaching) that carries one across
Sach vananjnaa — to deal or trade in Truth — to carry only what lasts
Haumai — the ego, the sense of a separate, competing self
Themes and Cross-Connections
The river-crossing is one of Gurbani's great images for the passage through life and beyond it. Here the crowds at the shore level all rank — a picture of Guru Nanak's radical equality. The closing couplet ('I claim no goodness, I see no one as bad') is a landmark of Sikh humility and non-judgment, and connects to the project's lens of ego as a fog to be quieted rather than an enemy to be defeated.
For Raag Maaroo
Maaroo faces mortality directly. This shabad meets it as a gentle, shared crossing by boat — the ferryman's call is kind, the boat is sturdy, the far shore is reached safely. Death is framed as passage and homecoming, never as terror, exactly the tone Maaroo asks for.
Translation Notes
The passing of kin ('none shall remain') is kept but reframed as the natural flow of life and death-as-homecoming rather than loss to be feared, per the raag's gentleness rules. 'One who conquers and subdues his ego' is rendered as the loud me-first voice growing quiet — the inner battle, the only war worth winning — rather than as violent conquest. The universal riverbank is foregrounded for its caste-and-rank-leveling force, in keeping with Guru Nanak's inclusivity.
Everyone gathers at the same riverbank — so travel light, carry only Truth, and cross without fear.
The Arc
The shabad begins by acknowledging, without grief, that all our kin come and go, while one bond — the tie to the One — cannot be broken. The rahaau sings of the weary wanderer brought home by the teaching. Then the great river-crossing imagery unfolds: aunts and uncles as boatloads of passengers, crowds gathering at the shore, the ferryman calling travelers to cross, the sturdy boat of the teaching carrying them safely. It resolves in counsel to travel light with only Truth, and closes on Guru Nanak's radiant humility: claim no goodness, see no one as bad.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The river-crossing is one of Gurbani's great images for the passage through life and beyond it. Here the crowds at the shore level all rank — a picture of Guru Nanak's radical equality. The closing couplet ('I claim no goodness, I see no one as bad') is a landmark of Sikh humility and non-judgment, and connects to the project's lens of ego as a fog to be quieted rather than an enemy to be defeated.
For Raag Maaroo
Maaroo faces mortality directly. This shabad meets it as a gentle, shared crossing by boat — the ferryman's call is kind, the boat is sturdy, the far shore is reached safely. Death is framed as passage and homecoming, never as terror, exactly the tone Maaroo asks for.
Translation Notes
The passing of kin ('none shall remain') is kept but reframed as the natural flow of life and death-as-homecoming rather than loss to be feared, per the raag's gentleness rules. 'One who conquers and subdues his ego' is rendered as the loud me-first voice growing quiet — the inner battle, the only war worth winning — rather than as violent conquest. The universal riverbank is foregrounded for its caste-and-rank-leveling force, in keeping with Guru Nanak's inclusivity.
Last updated: 2026-07-09