Raag Saarang, Shabad 175, Bhagat Sur Daas (with Guru Arjan, Mehl 5)
Keep close to what lifts you, the One has taken my heart into its own hands.
The Arc
The opening line urges keeping the company that lifts one toward the One (rahau), where those who love the One live beside the One in joyful ease; gazing on the One washes everything heavy away and fulfills every need; and turning from that beauty to chase lesser things only empties a person, while Sur Daas rests, his heart taken into the One own hands.
Key Vocabulary
Bimukhan — those turned away, met here with a positive choice of better company rather than condemnation. Sahaj — natural, joyful ease. Darshan — the blessing of gazing on and being seen by the One. Nirbikhaee — cleansed, made clear.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The shaping power of company; darshan as cleansing and fulfilling; and single-hearted love of the beautiful One. Its warmth sits close to the Naam Dayv and Kabir hymns around it in the block.
For Raag Saarang
The longing finds its object in the beauty of the One and its safety in the company that keeps it near.
Translation Notes
Attribution has a genuine layer worth naming: the header reads saarang mehlaa 5 soordaas, and by tradition the single opening line is the one couplet preserved from Bhagat Sur Daas, with Guru Arjan (the Fifth Guru, Mehl 5) composing the full shabad that completes it; the whole closes soordaas. It is credited here to Bhagat Sur Daas, with Guru Arjan completing hand noted. The rahau is in P0. Wellbeing and evenhandedness: do-not-associate-with-those-turned-away is rendered as a positive choice of uplifting company, not a condemnation of people; and the leech-and-leper image is dropped for its kernel, that chasing lesser things leaves one emptier, to avoid a frightening, stigmatizing picture of illness.
Keep close to what lifts you, the One has taken my heart into its own hands.
The Arc
The opening line urges keeping the company that lifts one toward the One (rahau), where those who love the One live beside the One in joyful ease; gazing on the One washes everything heavy away and fulfills every need; and turning from that beauty to chase lesser things only empties a person, while Sur Daas rests, his heart taken into the One own hands.
Key Vocabulary
Bimukhan — those turned away, met here with a positive choice of better company rather than condemnation. Sahaj — natural, joyful ease. Darshan — the blessing of gazing on and being seen by the One. Nirbikhaee — cleansed, made clear.
Themes and Cross-Connections
The shaping power of company; darshan as cleansing and fulfilling; and single-hearted love of the beautiful One. Its warmth sits close to the Naam Dayv and Kabir hymns around it in the block.
For Raag Saarang
The longing finds its object in the beauty of the One and its safety in the company that keeps it near.
Translation Notes
Attribution has a genuine layer worth naming: the header reads saarang mehlaa 5 soordaas, and by tradition the single opening line is the one couplet preserved from Bhagat Sur Daas, with Guru Arjan (the Fifth Guru, Mehl 5) composing the full shabad that completes it; the whole closes soordaas. It is credited here to Bhagat Sur Daas, with Guru Arjan completing hand noted. The rahau is in P0. Wellbeing and evenhandedness: do-not-associate-with-those-turned-away is rendered as a positive choice of uplifting company, not a condemnation of people; and the leech-and-leper image is dropped for its kernel, that chasing lesser things leaves one emptier, to avoid a frightening, stigmatizing picture of illness.