Shabad 136 | Guru Ram Das (Fourth Mehl) with Shaloks
A companion document to the individual verses. Read alongside, not instead.
What Is a Vaar?
A vaar is a named Gurbani form built from pauris with saloks. Punjabi literary tradition also uses the word for the ballad — an ode in praise of a hero's deeds, traditionally sung by the dhādī (minstrel) at important occasions. The Vaars in the Guru Granth Sahib take this martial, celebratory form and redirect it: the hero being praised is the Lord God; the deeds being celebrated are the divine's grace, justice, and care.
There are 22 Vaars in the GGS. The Vaar of Siree Raag (Shabad 136) is one of the most important. Guru Ram Das's Vanajaaraa precedes the Siri Raag Vaar; the Vaar proper has 21 pauris, each with accompanying saloks.
The Vaar has a characteristic structure:
Part 1 — Vanajaaraa (Pauri0–11): A separate composition by Guru Ram Das labeled Vanajaaraa (The Merchant), consisting of six main stanzas with an interspersed refrain (rahao). This section stands alone as a complete teaching before the Vaar proper begins.
Part 2 — Vaar with Shaloks (Pauri12–75): The formal Vaar, consisting of 21 Paurees (main stanzas) by Guru Ram Das (Fourth Mehl), each preceded by two or three Shaloks by other Gurus — primarily Guru Amar Das (Third Mehl), with contributions from Guru Nanak (First Mehl), Guru Angad (Second Mehl), and Guru Arjan (Fifth Mehl).
Part 1: Vanajaaraa — The Merchant (Pauri0–11)
The Merchant Metaphor
Vanajaaraa means the wandering merchant, the trader who travels from place to place with his goods. Guru Ram Das uses this figure — which runs throughout all of Siree Raag — as the structural metaphor for the soul's journey.
The refrain (rahao) that anchors every pair of stanzas addresses the soul directly: vańjāriā mitrā — "O my merchant friend." This is the same refrain that appears in the Pehray (Shabads 129–132), now compressed into a tight six-stanza song-form. Where the Pehray mapped the four watches of the night to the four stages of life, the Vanajaaraa maps the merchant's journey to the soul's search for the Lord.
Six main stanzas, six refrains, one arc:
Stanza
Central Teaching
I (P0)
The Name is the only companion that travels with you to the end
II (P2)
Without the Sangat no one finds the Name; the Guru gives the true lineage
III (P4)
Meditate while young and healthy — the Lord walks the road with you
IV (P6)
The Lord both leads astray and brings clarity — both
V (P8)
The Lord pervades every heart yet must still be found through the Guru
VI (P10)
Blessed is the merchant who loads the Lord's wealth as cargo
The Vanajaaraa closes with its most complete instruction: sās sās har simaro — "meditate on the Lord with every breath and every bite of food." The merchant who does this arrives at the destination with the right cargo, face radiant in the Lord's Court.
Part 2: The Vaar of Siree Raag (Pauri12–75)
Structure
The Vaar proper opens at Pauri12 with the formal heading: "Vaar of Siree Raag, Fourth Mehl, With Shaloks." The pattern throughout is:
2 Shaloks (by other Gurus — Mehl 1, 2, 3, or 5) that set the scene
1 Pauree (by Guru Ram Das, Mehl 4) that delivers the main teaching
The Shaloks are not mere decoration. The saloks and pauris are arranged together in the canonical Vaar, and readers may find that some saloks set up or deepen the Pauree that follows — sometimes providing the negative case (what happens when the Lord is forgotten) that the Pauree then answers with the positive (what happens when He is remembered).
The Shalok Authors and Their Voices
Guru
How many Shaloks
Characteristic voice in this Vaar
Mehl 1 (Guru Nanak)
7
Paradox, social critique, cosmic observation
Mehl 2 (Guru Angad)
2
Extreme compression; the two-line teaching that stings
Mehl 3 (Guru Amar Das)
33
The inner battle, the Gurmukh vs. manmukh contrast, the critique of scholars
Mehl 5 (Guru Arjan)
1
The devastating image: mistaking the pit for musk
Forty-three saloks in all.
The Vaar's 21 Paurees
Pauree
Pauri#
Central Claim
1
P14
One Creator, One Court; swim across the ocean of fear
2
P17
You created all and delegate all; nothing beyond You
3
P20
The cosmos is Your marketplace; the Gurmukh's liberation ripples to family
4
P23
You pervade all seven seas and stage this wondrous drama
5
P26
You know all secrets; the righteous rejoice, the sinners live in fear
6
P29
Great is His greatness, His justice, His generosity — He gives without being asked
7
P32
You are the water, the fish, and the net; one instant of thought = liberation
8
P35
Some eat through fraud, some through truthfulness; the truthful receive the inexhaustible
9
P38
Without You there is no floor to stand on and beg from
10
P41
Service is fruitful; he alone serves whom the Lord attaches to Himself
11
P44
Accepted at the Lord's Court, you are accepted everywhere; sinners saved by your face
12
P47
The Divine Light drives out ignorance like the sun; Gurmukhs behold the Unseen Lord
13
P50
Chant the Name — it brings peace, erases sins, removes poverty, lets you declare love
14
P54
Those who meditate on the True Guru: not burnt, not afraid, radiant in robes of honor
15
P57
The Name saves at the very last moment; even enemies fall at the Gurmukh's feet
16
P60
The Lord pervades all; He honors the righteous and is the Honor of the dishonored
17
P63
The Lord freed us from bondage; He is the Strongest, the protector of the poor
18
P66
True is the Master and His Justice; the devoted have no reason for burning anxiety
19
P69
The Lord performs His own service through His devotees; He sides with them and saves them
20
P72
Bring your work to the Lord; the True Guru gives His Guarantee of Truth
21
P75
The minstrel asks only for the Name — and receives it with robes of honor
The Vaar's Central Themes
1. Divine Initiative
The Vaar returns again and again to one structural claim: the Lord initiates everything. The finding of the Guru is the Lord's doing (P10, P14). The serving of the Lord is the Lord's doing (P41, P69). The transformation from manmukh to Gurmukh is the Lord's doing (P65, P68). The very faith placed in the Lord is the Lord's doing (P69).
This is not fatalism. The Vaar consistently also gives active instructions: meditate, chant, serve, bring your work to the Lord. Both are true simultaneously — and the Vaar does not resolve the tension, because the tension is the actual texture of the spiritual life. The human acts; the Lord enables the action. The devotee turns; the Lord ensures the turning was possible.
2. The Gurmukh vs. Manmukh Contrast
No composition in Siree Raag develops the Gurmukh/Manmukh distinction as extensively as this Vaar. The contrast appears in nearly every pair of Shaloks: the Gurmukh is saved, radiant, peaceful, crossing the ocean; the Manmukh suffers, is ugly in death, drowns in Maya's ocean. The Shaloks from Mehl 3 in particular are structured around this pair.
The Vaar is careful, however, not to make the manmukh irredeemable. Even the pandits and scholars caught in Maya (criticized in P12, P36, P39) might meet the Guru through "perfect destiny." Even the sinners who fall at the Gurmukh's feet (P57) can be saved by that contact.
3. The Critique of Empty Religion
Across the Vaar, Guru Amar Das's Shaloks consistently critique the religious establishment: the pandits who read Vedas for money (P12, P36, P39), the worshippers who draw ceremonial kitchen lines while harboring false-mindedness inside (P70), the practitioners who do ritual without the Name (P58, P59). The Vaar is not anti-religious. It is anti-performance — against religious activity done for the wrong reasons, without the Name as the living center.
The alternative is always the same: the Name, the Guru, the Sangat.
4. The Merchant Throughout
The merchant metaphor that begins with the Vanajaaraa runs through the Vaar itself:
The cosmos as the Lord's marketplace, the fourteen world-shops (P20)
The Gurmukh as trader who loads the Lord's wealth as cargo
The inexhaustible treasure given to those who understand Truthfulness (P35)
"Without You, there is no floor to stand on and beg from" (P38)
The Guru's Guarantee of Truth — the patron's pledge (P72)
The minstrel who comes to the Lord's Door asking only for the Name (P75)
The Vaar ends where the Vanajaaraa's merchant began: at the door, asking for the right cargo, receiving it as a gift.
5. The Closing Parable
The final Pauree (P75) is structurally distinctive: it is a first-person story. After 20 Paurees of teaching in the third person and second person, the Vaar closes with Guru Ram Das narrating his own arrival at the Lord's Door as the court minstrel.
Dhādī — the minstrel who praises the lord's deeds — is Guru Ram Das's self-description. He has sung the Lord's praises across the entire Vaar. Now, at the end, he arrives at the door with the only request that makes sense after everything that has been said: give me the Name. Not wealth. Not power. Not even liberation — the Name, through which all of that comes. The Lord gives it. The minstrel is blessed with robes of honor.
The Vaar ends in grace: not in theology, not in prescription, but in a story of the Lord giving His minstrel what the minstrel came for.
Shabad 136 | Guru Ram Das (Fourth Mehl) with Shaloks
A companion document to the individual verses. Read alongside, not instead.
What Is a Vaar?
A vaar is a named Gurbani form built from pauris with saloks. Punjabi literary tradition also uses the word for the ballad — an ode in praise of a hero's deeds, traditionally sung by the dhādī (minstrel) at important occasions. The Vaars in the Guru Granth Sahib take this martial, celebratory form and redirect it: the hero being praised is the Lord God; the deeds being celebrated are the divine's grace, justice, and care.
There are 22 Vaars in the GGS. The Vaar of Siree Raag (Shabad 136) is one of the most important. Guru Ram Das's Vanajaaraa precedes the Siri Raag Vaar; the Vaar proper has 21 pauris, each with accompanying saloks.
The Vaar has a characteristic structure:
Part 1 — Vanajaaraa (Pauri0–11): A separate composition by Guru Ram Das labeled Vanajaaraa (The Merchant), consisting of six main stanzas with an interspersed refrain (rahao). This section stands alone as a complete teaching before the Vaar proper begins.
Part 2 — Vaar with Shaloks (Pauri12–75): The formal Vaar, consisting of 21 Paurees (main stanzas) by Guru Ram Das (Fourth Mehl), each preceded by two or three Shaloks by other Gurus — primarily Guru Amar Das (Third Mehl), with contributions from Guru Nanak (First Mehl), Guru Angad (Second Mehl), and Guru Arjan (Fifth Mehl).
Part 1: Vanajaaraa — The Merchant (Pauri0–11)
The Merchant Metaphor
Vanajaaraa means the wandering merchant, the trader who travels from place to place with his goods. Guru Ram Das uses this figure — which runs throughout all of Siree Raag — as the structural metaphor for the soul's journey.
The refrain (rahao) that anchors every pair of stanzas addresses the soul directly: vańjāriā mitrā — "O my merchant friend." This is the same refrain that appears in the Pehray (Shabads 129–132), now compressed into a tight six-stanza song-form. Where the Pehray mapped the four watches of the night to the four stages of life, the Vanajaaraa maps the merchant's journey to the soul's search for the Lord.
Six main stanzas, six refrains, one arc:
The Vanajaaraa closes with its most complete instruction: sās sās har simaro — "meditate on the Lord with every breath and every bite of food." The merchant who does this arrives at the destination with the right cargo, face radiant in the Lord's Court.
Part 2: The Vaar of Siree Raag (Pauri12–75)
Structure
The Vaar proper opens at Pauri12 with the formal heading: "Vaar of Siree Raag, Fourth Mehl, With Shaloks." The pattern throughout is:
The Shaloks are not mere decoration. The saloks and pauris are arranged together in the canonical Vaar, and readers may find that some saloks set up or deepen the Pauree that follows — sometimes providing the negative case (what happens when the Lord is forgotten) that the Pauree then answers with the positive (what happens when He is remembered).
The Shalok Authors and Their Voices
Forty-three saloks in all.
The Vaar's 21 Paurees
The Vaar's Central Themes
1. Divine Initiative
The Vaar returns again and again to one structural claim: the Lord initiates everything. The finding of the Guru is the Lord's doing (P10, P14). The serving of the Lord is the Lord's doing (P41, P69). The transformation from manmukh to Gurmukh is the Lord's doing (P65, P68). The very faith placed in the Lord is the Lord's doing (P69).
This is not fatalism. The Vaar consistently also gives active instructions: meditate, chant, serve, bring your work to the Lord. Both are true simultaneously — and the Vaar does not resolve the tension, because the tension is the actual texture of the spiritual life. The human acts; the Lord enables the action. The devotee turns; the Lord ensures the turning was possible.
2. The Gurmukh vs. Manmukh Contrast
No composition in Siree Raag develops the Gurmukh/Manmukh distinction as extensively as this Vaar. The contrast appears in nearly every pair of Shaloks: the Gurmukh is saved, radiant, peaceful, crossing the ocean; the Manmukh suffers, is ugly in death, drowns in Maya's ocean. The Shaloks from Mehl 3 in particular are structured around this pair.
The Vaar is careful, however, not to make the manmukh irredeemable. Even the pandits and scholars caught in Maya (criticized in P12, P36, P39) might meet the Guru through "perfect destiny." Even the sinners who fall at the Gurmukh's feet (P57) can be saved by that contact.
3. The Critique of Empty Religion
Across the Vaar, Guru Amar Das's Shaloks consistently critique the religious establishment: the pandits who read Vedas for money (P12, P36, P39), the worshippers who draw ceremonial kitchen lines while harboring false-mindedness inside (P70), the practitioners who do ritual without the Name (P58, P59). The Vaar is not anti-religious. It is anti-performance — against religious activity done for the wrong reasons, without the Name as the living center.
The alternative is always the same: the Name, the Guru, the Sangat.
4. The Merchant Throughout
The merchant metaphor that begins with the Vanajaaraa runs through the Vaar itself:
The Vaar ends where the Vanajaaraa's merchant began: at the door, asking for the right cargo, receiving it as a gift.
5. The Closing Parable
The final Pauree (P75) is structurally distinctive: it is a first-person story. After 20 Paurees of teaching in the third person and second person, the Vaar closes with Guru Ram Das narrating his own arrival at the Lord's Door as the court minstrel.
Dhādī — the minstrel who praises the lord's deeds — is Guru Ram Das's self-description. He has sung the Lord's praises across the entire Vaar. Now, at the end, he arrives at the door with the only request that makes sense after everything that has been said: give me the Name. Not wealth. Not power. Not even liberation — the Name, through which all of that comes. The Lord gives it. The minstrel is blessed with robes of honor.
The Vaar ends in grace: not in theology, not in prescription, but in a story of the Lord giving His minstrel what the minstrel came for.