Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Among all the musical modes, Siree Raag is the most excellent. But only if it does what music is supposed to do: fill you with love for the True Lord.
When that happens, the True Lord settles permanently in the mind. Your understanding steadies into something unshakeable.
The priceless jewel is found by genuinely contemplating the Guru's Word.
The tongue becomes true. The mind becomes true. The body becomes true. All three align.
Those who serve the True Guru — their whole way of being in the world becomes truly real.
Guru Amar Das opens the Vaar
The Vaar of Siree Raag (Shabad 136's second section, Pauri12 onward) is formally introduced here. The Shaloks that accompany the Vaar were composed by various Gurus — here Guru Amar Das (Mehl 3) — and can be read as preparing the mind for each Pauree.
This opening Shalok by Guru Amar Das is a statement about the raga itself. Raāgā vich siri rāgu uttam ho'e, je Har sachi prīt lagā'ie — "Among the ragas, Siree Raag is the best, if it inspires you to enshrine love for the True Lord." The condition on "best" is crucial: no raga is inherently superior. The music is excellent only if it does what music is for — opening the heart to the divine.
"The priceless jewel is obtained"
Anmol ratanu pā'i'ā gur shabad vīchāri — "the priceless jewel is obtained by contemplating the Word of the Guru's Shabad." The jewel (ratanu) is the Naam — the experience of the divine's presence — and it is found through vīchār, contemplation, reflecting on the Shabad. Not through ritual, not through musical technique, not through scholarly mastery of the text — through genuine contemplation.
"The tongue, the mind, and the body become true"
Jib sacchi man sach, tan sach hovai — "the tongue becomes true, the mind becomes true, and the body becomes true as well." Three levels of truth: what you say, what you think, what you do in the world. The alignment of all three is the fruit of serving the True Guru. This is the deepest integrity — not consistency in public but alignment across all three registers.
*Think of something you do — music, a sport, a practice — that is supposed to open you to something larger than itself. Does it? What makes the difference between when it does and when it doesn't?*
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI