I ask for only one gift, and it holds all the rest: Your Name.
The Arc
The shabad opens with study lit by grace that ends in an inward discovery: within the self, the self is revealed. The rahau reverses a ritual scene, naming the Creator as host and begging a single gift, the Name. The inner pulls are then quieted and pride subsides; and in two of Gurbani's loveliest verses, virtues become the ingredients of a sacred meal, rice of truth, wheat of compassion, milk of good deeds, ghee of contentment, with forgiveness and patience as milk-cows and modesty and praise as clothing.
Key Vocabulary
Aapaa madhay aap pargaasi-aa — within the self, the self is revealed; self-realization. Jajmaan — the patron who feeds and gifts a priest; here the Creator. Dakhinaa — the offering a priest receives; Nanak begs only the Name. Panch taskar — the five thieves, the inner pulls. Jat sat, da-i-aa, santokh — self-restraint and truth, compassion, contentment, the meal's ingredients. Khimaa dheeraj — forgiveness and patience, the milk-cows.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The one-pointed request for the Name distills the project's sense that a single gift contains all others. The virtue-meal reworks the imagery of a ritual offering into an inner offering, honoring the tradition of shared food while relocating it in the heart. Praise and modesty as clothing continue the raag's warm framing of naam simran.
For Raag Prabhaatee
A morning shabad of asking suits the dawn raag; the meal imagery has the freshness of a day's first nourishment.
Translation Notes
The jajmaan and dakhinaa imagery draws on Brahminical ritual, and it is handled devotionally, not as mockery, in keeping with interfaith care. The virtues-as-food verses are kept close to the Gurmukhi, since the images themselves carry the teaching.
I ask for only one gift, and it holds all the rest: Your Name.
The Arc
The shabad opens with study lit by grace that ends in an inward discovery: within the self, the self is revealed. The rahau reverses a ritual scene, naming the Creator as host and begging a single gift, the Name. The inner pulls are then quieted and pride subsides; and in two of Gurbani's loveliest verses, virtues become the ingredients of a sacred meal, rice of truth, wheat of compassion, milk of good deeds, ghee of contentment, with forgiveness and patience as milk-cows and modesty and praise as clothing.
Key Vocabulary
Aapaa madhay aap pargaasi-aa — within the self, the self is revealed; self-realization. Jajmaan — the patron who feeds and gifts a priest; here the Creator. Dakhinaa — the offering a priest receives; Nanak begs only the Name. Panch taskar — the five thieves, the inner pulls. Jat sat, da-i-aa, santokh — self-restraint and truth, compassion, contentment, the meal's ingredients. Khimaa dheeraj — forgiveness and patience, the milk-cows.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The one-pointed request for the Name distills the project's sense that a single gift contains all others. The virtue-meal reworks the imagery of a ritual offering into an inner offering, honoring the tradition of shared food while relocating it in the heart. Praise and modesty as clothing continue the raag's warm framing of naam simran.
For Raag Prabhaatee
A morning shabad of asking suits the dawn raag; the meal imagery has the freshness of a day's first nourishment.
Translation Notes
The jajmaan and dakhinaa imagery draws on Brahminical ritual, and it is handled devotionally, not as mockery, in keeping with interfaith care. The virtues-as-food verses are kept close to the Gurmukhi, since the images themselves carry the teaching.