"The Naam is the Support of my mind — my life, my breath, my peace, an article of daily use."
The Arc
A love-poem to the Name that makes the sacred ordinary. The Name as breath and daily necessity (v.0); the Name relocating social status, honor, and family — and being the companion that liberates (v.1); pleasures that leave you at death's door versus the Name as the "dearest friend" and treasure you keep (v.2).
Key Vocabulary
nit apnai kaam — "an article of daily use"; the sacred woven into the everyday.
jaat / pat / kutamb — caste-status / honor / family — all relocated into the Name.
meet — friend; keeps devotion warm, not austere.
Themes and Cross-Connections
Relocating caste/status/family into the Name is a core equality move (cf. B00C1547 here; Aasaa B00C673 "Name as one's status"). The Name-as-breath image recurs across Gurbani.
For Raag Todee
Quietly subversive of the caste-and-clan hierarchy of Guru Arjan's day: worth and belonging rest on a connection open to anyone, as ordinary and constant as breathing.
"The Naam is the Support of my mind — my life, my breath, my peace, an article of daily use."
The Arc
A love-poem to the Name that makes the sacred ordinary. The Name as breath and daily necessity (v.0); the Name relocating social status, honor, and family — and being the companion that liberates (v.1); pleasures that leave you at death's door versus the Name as the "dearest friend" and treasure you keep (v.2).
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
Relocating caste/status/family into the Name is a core equality move (cf. B00C1547 here; Aasaa B00C673 "Name as one's status"). The Name-as-breath image recurs across Gurbani.
For Raag Todee
Quietly subversive of the caste-and-clan hierarchy of Guru Arjan's day: worth and belonging rest on a connection open to anyone, as ordinary and constant as breathing.