What should I hold onto? I do not know — so let Your Name be my help, and that is enough.
The Arc
The Third Guru names the One's story as too deep for words, received by grace. The One is an ocean of every good thing, known through the Word, while a heart without a center stays lost. Bathing in the Name leaves one lastingly clean. Then the hymn's tender center: what should I grasp, gather, or let go? I do not know — and the answer is not strategy but the Name as companion. The One draws each heart in its own time; wonders surround a forgetful mind; those who sense the One's nearness never feel apart, live by truth and good deeds, and rest. Two ways to walk are set side by side, and the close hands everything back to grace: it is all the One's doing.
Key Vocabulary
akath kahaanee — the unspoken story; truth beyond words.
bauraaniaa — lost and confused; a heart without its center.
boojh na paa-ee — I do not know; the seeker's honest not-knowing.
naamo sakhaa-ee — the Name as companion and support.
bismaad — wonder; what a forgetful mind walks past.
aapay — He Himself; everything traced back to grace.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The ocean-of-excellence image continues Saarang's depth. The disarming "I do not know" is a rare note of honest helplessness, answered by grace rather than technique — resonant with the whole project's picture of grace as received, not earned. The gurmukh and manmukh contrast describes two states of heart, never ranking two kinds of people.
For Raag Saarang
Longing turns humble here — the seeker admits not knowing what to hold or release, and discovers that the Name itself is the support the longing was reaching for.
Translation Notes
This ashtapadee is Mehl 3 (Guru Amar Das). bin sabdai bauraaniaa (insane without the Shabad) is rendered as lost and confused, never as a person condemned. The pollution of the world (mailaa) is read as inner cloudiness, not ritual impurity. The door of salvation (mokh duaaraa) is rendered as the door into freedom. manmukh is a describable state of a self-turned mind, not a verdict.
What should I hold onto? I do not know — so let Your Name be my help, and that is enough.
The Arc
The Third Guru names the One's story as too deep for words, received by grace. The One is an ocean of every good thing, known through the Word, while a heart without a center stays lost. Bathing in the Name leaves one lastingly clean. Then the hymn's tender center: what should I grasp, gather, or let go? I do not know — and the answer is not strategy but the Name as companion. The One draws each heart in its own time; wonders surround a forgetful mind; those who sense the One's nearness never feel apart, live by truth and good deeds, and rest. Two ways to walk are set side by side, and the close hands everything back to grace: it is all the One's doing.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The ocean-of-excellence image continues Saarang's depth. The disarming "I do not know" is a rare note of honest helplessness, answered by grace rather than technique — resonant with the whole project's picture of grace as received, not earned. The gurmukh and manmukh contrast describes two states of heart, never ranking two kinds of people.
For Raag Saarang
Longing turns humble here — the seeker admits not knowing what to hold or release, and discovers that the Name itself is the support the longing was reaching for.
Translation Notes
This ashtapadee is Mehl 3 (Guru Amar Das). bin sabdai bauraaniaa (insane without the Shabad) is rendered as lost and confused, never as a person condemned. The pollution of the world (mailaa) is read as inner cloudiness, not ritual impurity. The door of salvation (mokh duaaraa) is rendered as the door into freedom. manmukh is a describable state of a self-turned mind, not a verdict.