"I beg for the Gift of Your Name; nothing else shall go along with me in the end."
The Arc
Beg for the one gift that lasts, since nothing else crosses the final threshold (v.0); power, wealth and pleasures pictured as "the shadow of a tree" that keeps moving, chased uselessly in every direction (v.1); everything but the One shown transitory, and the request that ends it — the dust of the Saints' feet, so the mind finds peace (v.2).
Key Vocabulary
chhaa-i-aa / shadow of a tree — genuinely pleasant, impossible to pin down; the unstayable nature of pleasures.
naam daan — the gift of the Name.
sant (santokh) — the peace/tranquility that settles in humble company.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Memento-mori ("nothing goes with you") runs through all of Todee (B00C1537, 1557) and Gurbani at large. Tree-shadow parallels Aasaa's shadow-pleasures (B00C836). Peace-found-in-humble-company is the raag's steady refrain.
For Raag Todee
Compresses the whole raag into a refrain: ask for the one thing you can actually carry, and find peace by lowering into good company.
"I beg for the Gift of Your Name; nothing else shall go along with me in the end."
The Arc
Beg for the one gift that lasts, since nothing else crosses the final threshold (v.0); power, wealth and pleasures pictured as "the shadow of a tree" that keeps moving, chased uselessly in every direction (v.1); everything but the One shown transitory, and the request that ends it — the dust of the Saints' feet, so the mind finds peace (v.2).
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Memento-mori ("nothing goes with you") runs through all of Todee (B00C1537, 1557) and Gurbani at large. Tree-shadow parallels Aasaa's shadow-pleasures (B00C836). Peace-found-in-humble-company is the raag's steady refrain.
For Raag Todee
Compresses the whole raag into a refrain: ask for the one thing you can actually carry, and find peace by lowering into good company.