When mercy comes the work completes — and without You, who is mine?
The Arc
A warm, personal shabad. It opens with grace finishing what effort could not, then the three-line Pause reaches its emotional peak: seeing You I live; without You, who is mine? The verses ground this love in a belonging that feels always-meant-to-be, and in a well-being no trouble of body, mind, or spirit can burn away. It closes with the single gift the speaker asks for: never to lose that nearness.
Key Vocabulary
ghaal — effort, hard work — completed by grace when striving alone could not
daras — the sacred sight, beholding the One — the source of aliveness
poorab karam — past good deeds — the sense that this belonging was long in coming
teen taap — the three fevers — troubles of body, mind, and spirit
Themes and Cross-Connections
The question tujh bin thaakur kavan hamaaraa — “without You, who is mine?” — is one of the tenderest lines in Guru Arjan’s Soohee: the whole of belonging condensed into a single ache and its answer.
For Raag Soohee
Soohee holds the love-longing of the soul-bride, and this shabad is that longing at full strength — the beloved coming alive at the sight of the One, unable to imagine belonging to anyone else.
Translation Notes
SSK renders the close as “May I never forget… the Lord’s Feet.” Per the positive-framing preference this is rendered as “may I always keep the shelter of the One close” — same meaning, turned toward holding on.
When mercy comes the work completes — and without You, who is mine?
The Arc
A warm, personal shabad. It opens with grace finishing what effort could not, then the three-line Pause reaches its emotional peak: seeing You I live; without You, who is mine? The verses ground this love in a belonging that feels always-meant-to-be, and in a well-being no trouble of body, mind, or spirit can burn away. It closes with the single gift the speaker asks for: never to lose that nearness.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The question tujh bin thaakur kavan hamaaraa — “without You, who is mine?” — is one of the tenderest lines in Guru Arjan’s Soohee: the whole of belonging condensed into a single ache and its answer.
For Raag Soohee
Soohee holds the love-longing of the soul-bride, and this shabad is that longing at full strength — the beloved coming alive at the sight of the One, unable to imagine belonging to anyone else.
Translation Notes
SSK renders the close as “May I never forget… the Lord’s Feet.” Per the positive-framing preference this is rendered as “may I always keep the shelter of the One close” — same meaning, turned toward holding on.
Last updated: 2026-07-08