Wake up, set down what was never real, and live so that what you see is good.
The Arc
The last shabad of Raag Malaar, under its own Ik Onkar. Ravidas asks what devotion meets the Beloved and answers: the company of the holy. Then three quiet movements — wake from sleep, watch the shop of false goods close, and know that one day you will see, honestly, whatever you did. Not a warning but an invitation: to live days worth seeing. The raag of rain and longing closes on a cleared sky.
Key Vocabulary
praan naath — the Beloved who is the very breath of life.
saadh sangat — the company of the holy; where the supreme state is found.
jhoothai banaj — the trade in the false and impermanent, whose shop closes.
lekhaa — the account; here, honest self-seeing, not a fearful trial.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The waking-from-sleep and the closing of the false shop are classic Bhagat images of turning from the impermanent to the real (sach). The saadh sangat as the meeting-place with the Beloved runs throughout the tradition. The reckoning, rendered as honest self-seeing, keeps the teaching while lifting the fear.
For Raag Malaar
The raag's viraha resolves fully here: devotion in holy company meets the Beloved, the false falls away, and the awakened heart looks on its life in a cleared sky. A fitting close to the monsoon raag.
Translation Notes
The account or reckoning (lekhaa) is rendered as clear, honest self-seeing rather than a frightening judgment or punishment, keeping the moral weight while removing the terror for a child. "Dirty clothes" and "sleep" are kept as gentle images of habits and inattention to be woken from, not sins to be condemned.
Wake up, set down what was never real, and live so that what you see is good.
The Arc
The last shabad of Raag Malaar, under its own Ik Onkar. Ravidas asks what devotion meets the Beloved and answers: the company of the holy. Then three quiet movements — wake from sleep, watch the shop of false goods close, and know that one day you will see, honestly, whatever you did. Not a warning but an invitation: to live days worth seeing. The raag of rain and longing closes on a cleared sky.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The waking-from-sleep and the closing of the false shop are classic Bhagat images of turning from the impermanent to the real (sach). The saadh sangat as the meeting-place with the Beloved runs throughout the tradition. The reckoning, rendered as honest self-seeing, keeps the teaching while lifting the fear.
For Raag Malaar
The raag's viraha resolves fully here: devotion in holy company meets the Beloved, the false falls away, and the awakened heart looks on its life in a cleared sky. A fitting close to the monsoon raag.
Translation Notes
The account or reckoning (lekhaa) is rendered as clear, honest self-seeing rather than a frightening judgment or punishment, keeping the moral weight while removing the terror for a child. "Dirty clothes" and "sleep" are kept as gentle images of habits and inattention to be woken from, not sins to be condemned.