"The Saints do not know any other; they are carefree, ever in the Lord's Love."
The Arc
The opening shabad of Raag Todee, and it sets the raag's keynote: the peace of the settled heart. The sant who needs no backup, sheltered under the One's high canopy, having found what is deathless (v.0); and the promise that disease, sorrow, old age and death cannot reach the fearless, surrendered center of such a person (v.1).
Key Vocabulary
bayparvaah — carefree, without anxiety; not carelessness but the freedom of one who has stopped seeking backup.
amar — immortal, deathless; the quality of the One the devotees find.
nirbhau — fearless (cf. the Mool Mantar); freedom from being ruled by hard things, not their absence.
man arpiaa — the mind surrendered/offered.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Fearlessness as nirbhau links straight to Japji's Mool Mantar. The "carefree" saint anticipates Goojaree's provision-teaching (You Are Already Fed) and Anand Sahib's "praise over prayer" — the settled heart that needs nothing. "Disease and death do not approach" is Todee's healing register announced at the outset.
For Raag Todee
Todee is traditionally a soothing, healing raag, and Guru Arjan (whose 30 shabads make up the bulk of it) tunes it to exactly that: a medicine for the anxious mind. This first shabad plants the two images that recur throughout — the carefree shelter and the healing of inner disease.
"The Saints do not know any other; they are carefree, ever in the Lord's Love."
The Arc
The opening shabad of Raag Todee, and it sets the raag's keynote: the peace of the settled heart. The sant who needs no backup, sheltered under the One's high canopy, having found what is deathless (v.0); and the promise that disease, sorrow, old age and death cannot reach the fearless, surrendered center of such a person (v.1).
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Fearlessness as nirbhau links straight to Japji's Mool Mantar. The "carefree" saint anticipates Goojaree's provision-teaching (You Are Already Fed) and Anand Sahib's "praise over prayer" — the settled heart that needs nothing. "Disease and death do not approach" is Todee's healing register announced at the outset.
For Raag Todee
Todee is traditionally a soothing, healing raag, and Guru Arjan (whose 30 shabads make up the bulk of it) tunes it to exactly that: a medicine for the anxious mind. This first shabad plants the two images that recur throughout — the carefree shelter and the healing of inner disease.