Say the Name of the dearest One, give your whole self to the Guru, and ask for the one gift worth asking for — a humble heart.
The Arc
The Name of the Supreme Being clears the sense of never-having-enough and erases the fear of beginnings and endings; resting on the Unmoving One, the heart settles into peace. The Rahao makes the great trade: mind and body laid before the Guru, the whole self given for a dear price. Then the counterweight — rulers with every pleasure find nothing holds without the Name — followed by the open-handed plea for shelter and the company of the Saints, and the closing request: of all gifts, give me humility.
Key Vocabulary
purkhotam: the Supreme Being
asthir: unmoving, unchanging — the ground that does not shift
mul mahghaa: a dear, costly price — the head given as the wisest purchase
saranaagat: taking sanctuary, coming for shelter
pratipaal: cherisher, constant nourisher
daan nimghaa / nimraa: the gift of humility
Themes and Cross-Connections
The "best trade" of the head given to the Guru echoes the previous shabad's vaychi-o sir — for Guru Ram Das, surrender is never loss but the wisest purchase. The request for humility as the highest gift is a recurring Gurbani inversion: strength is admired outside, smallness prized within.
For Raag Soohee
Soohee's love-language runs through the Rahao's ati pirghaa, the "most beloved" — the raag of union naming the Beloved as dearest, and the self gladly given.
Translation Notes
The Pauri-2 Dharam-Raj imagery (the Judge striking heads with a staff, regret) is dropped per wellbeing rules; the teaching kept is that pleasure without the Name does not hold. jan kiram (servant, a mere worm) is rendered as empty-handedness ("I come to You small and empty-handed"), not self-condemnation.
Say the Name of the dearest One, give your whole self to the Guru, and ask for the one gift worth asking for — a humble heart.
The Arc
The Name of the Supreme Being clears the sense of never-having-enough and erases the fear of beginnings and endings; resting on the Unmoving One, the heart settles into peace. The Rahao makes the great trade: mind and body laid before the Guru, the whole self given for a dear price. Then the counterweight — rulers with every pleasure find nothing holds without the Name — followed by the open-handed plea for shelter and the company of the Saints, and the closing request: of all gifts, give me humility.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The "best trade" of the head given to the Guru echoes the previous shabad's vaychi-o sir — for Guru Ram Das, surrender is never loss but the wisest purchase. The request for humility as the highest gift is a recurring Gurbani inversion: strength is admired outside, smallness prized within.
For Raag Soohee
Soohee's love-language runs through the Rahao's ati pirghaa, the "most beloved" — the raag of union naming the Beloved as dearest, and the self gladly given.
Translation Notes
The Pauri-2 Dharam-Raj imagery (the Judge striking heads with a staff, regret) is dropped per wellbeing rules; the teaching kept is that pleasure without the Name does not hold. jan kiram (servant, a mere worm) is rendered as empty-handedness ("I come to You small and empty-handed"), not self-condemnation.