Ask for only one thing — to love the Name — and the boat of good company carries the rest.
The Arc
The rahau asks for a single thing: naam bhagat, devotion to the Name, with every other pursuit set down. Verse one names the practice — love, remembrance, and song — and the posture — humility, low as the dust of the feet of those who live it. The close gathers the fruit: the Name as the whole of wellbeing, fear loosening before the One who knows the heart from inside, and the company of the holy as a boat carrying a person across.
Key Vocabulary
naam bhagat — devotion to the Name.
sagal kaamee tiaag — setting down every other pursuit.
har jan kee rayn — the dust of the feet of the holy; humility.
antarjaamee — the One who knows the heart from within.
saadhsang — the company of the holy, pictured as a boat.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The boat-across-the-water image and the dust-of-the-feet image are two of the tradition's most recurring pictures; here they frame a single movement from asking to arriving.
For Raag Saarang
The longing raag asks for one thing and finds that good company is the vessel that carries the longing home.
Translation Notes
The fear of death (jam kee taraas) is rendered as fear loosening its grip, kept as relief rather than dread.
Ask for only one thing — to love the Name — and the boat of good company carries the rest.
The Arc
The rahau asks for a single thing: naam bhagat, devotion to the Name, with every other pursuit set down. Verse one names the practice — love, remembrance, and song — and the posture — humility, low as the dust of the feet of those who live it. The close gathers the fruit: the Name as the whole of wellbeing, fear loosening before the One who knows the heart from inside, and the company of the holy as a boat carrying a person across.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The boat-across-the-water image and the dust-of-the-feet image are two of the tradition's most recurring pictures; here they frame a single movement from asking to arriving.
For Raag Saarang
The longing raag asks for one thing and finds that good company is the vessel that carries the longing home.
Translation Notes
The fear of death (jam kee taraas) is rendered as fear loosening its grip, kept as relief rather than dread.