You can carry a worry to every court in the world; only the deepest one settles it -- and there you are known before you speak.
The Arc
This shabad opens the Third House (Ghar 3) of Guru Arjan's Sorath. Pauri 0: a person takes their dispute to the council, the chiefs, the noblemen -- and none can resolve it; only meeting the true King settles the case. Rahau (Pauri 1): now the searching stops, because the One has been found, and the restless coming and going ends. Pauri 2: in that court, master and disciple are equal, and the Inner-knower understands without a word being spoken. Pauri 3: He is King of all places where the unstruck melody sounds; cleverness is useless, and meeting Him the separate self quietly dissolves.
Key Vocabulary
mil raajan raam nibayraa: it was settled only by meeting the true King
ab dhoodhan katahu na jaa-ee: now I search nowhere else (the Rahau)
sam thaakur sam chayraa: master and disciple are the same
antarjaamee... bin bolat aap pachhaanai: the Inner-knower understands without speech
anhad sabad: the unstruck melody
aap gavaa-ee: the separate self is set down
Themes and Cross-Connections
The worldly courts (panch, sikdaar, umraav) versus the one true Court is a classic Gurbani move: outer authorities cannot resolve an inner matter. The equality of master and disciple in that Court echoes the caste-leveling heart of the tradition -- before the One, hierarchy dissolves.
For Raag Sorath
Sorath's plainspoken warmth suits a shabad about ordinary trouble finally set right in the one place that can hold it.
Translation Notes
Sikdaar and umraav are Persian-derived terms for the officials of the day; rendered here as neutral 'chiefs' and 'noblemen' without singling out any community. Aap gavaa-ee (Sant Singh Khalsa: 'loses his self-conceit') is read here as the softening of haumai, the sense of separateness, not self-hatred.
You can carry a worry to every court in the world; only the deepest one settles it -- and there you are known before you speak.
The Arc
This shabad opens the Third House (Ghar 3) of Guru Arjan's Sorath. Pauri 0: a person takes their dispute to the council, the chiefs, the noblemen -- and none can resolve it; only meeting the true King settles the case. Rahau (Pauri 1): now the searching stops, because the One has been found, and the restless coming and going ends. Pauri 2: in that court, master and disciple are equal, and the Inner-knower understands without a word being spoken. Pauri 3: He is King of all places where the unstruck melody sounds; cleverness is useless, and meeting Him the separate self quietly dissolves.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
The worldly courts (panch, sikdaar, umraav) versus the one true Court is a classic Gurbani move: outer authorities cannot resolve an inner matter. The equality of master and disciple in that Court echoes the caste-leveling heart of the tradition -- before the One, hierarchy dissolves.
For Raag Sorath
Sorath's plainspoken warmth suits a shabad about ordinary trouble finally set right in the one place that can hold it.
Translation Notes
Sikdaar and umraav are Persian-derived terms for the officials of the day; rendered here as neutral 'chiefs' and 'noblemen' without singling out any community. Aap gavaa-ee (Sant Singh Khalsa: 'loses his self-conceit') is read here as the softening of haumai, the sense of separateness, not self-hatred.