Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Name of the One I love is what holds my mind up.
It's my life, the breath in my lungs, the calm in my chest — something I reach for as naturally as anything I use every day.
This one is a love-poem to the Name. Its power is in how ordinary it makes the holy.
Parabh jee ko naam maneh saDhaarai — the Name of the Dear One holds my mind up. Then comes the surprising part. Bartan ayh hamaarai — it is my bartan, something I use every day, like a cup or a plate. The Name isn't saved for special days. It is part of daily life, like breathing. It's like the things you reach for a hundred times without thinking — your shoes, your water bottle, your toothbrush.
This line is the rahaa-o, the "pause" line, the center of the shabad. Guru Arjan is describing a connection so woven into life that it isn't a separate activity anymore. It has simply become the way he lives.
What's something so woven into your day that you'd feel lost without it?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI