Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
There is only One. Its Name is Truth. It is the Creator of all. It is fearless and full of love, beyond time, never born, shining on its own. And the One is found by the Guru's grace — a gift that is always here, waiting for an open heart.
I belong to my Master, the One.
I have taken hold of the feet of the One, the life of the whole world. My ego is gone; it has let go of me for good.
I belong to the One, and holding on has quieted my ego.
It begins with the Mool Mantar, the "root words" that open the Guru Granth Sahib. They name the One: sat naam, whose Name is Truth, nirbha-o, without fear, and saibhan, existing on its own, never born. We come to know the One not by earning it, but by grace — the way you notice sunlight once you step out of the shadow. Everything in Raag Saarang starts from here.
Then comes the rahaa-o, the "pause" line. It is the center of the shabad, the line everything else circles back to. The singer says apunay thaakur kee ha-o chayree: I belong to my Master, like a helper who serves in the house.
Charan gahay means "I have grasped the feet." Picture a small child holding a parent's hand in a crowd. That is complete trust. And once the singer holds on like that, ha-umai lets go. Ha-umai is ego, the feeling of being a separate self who must stand alone. The whole shabad grows out of this one move: holding on, and letting the old self go.
When have you trusted someone so completely that you stopped feeling alone?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI