Archive for 2020

Several years ago I heard this and I keep going back to this haunting melody by Shubha Mudgal. The lyrics are strikingly similar to Kabir's shabad in the Guru Granth Sahib Gao Gao Ri Dulhani on which I have written in a different note. The essence of the words is the same, and each is very beautiful.

Raag Asa or Gauri - depending on the listener

Raag In Gurbani this is sung in Asa, while in Kabir's Granthavali this is in Raag Gauri. It is Shubha Mudgal doesn't sing it in either raags. I believe the responsibility of the deciding the raag is sometimes upon the singer, and sometime on the editor. But they are both acting as listeners. They can hear different colors of oneness in the same song and therefore the decision on different raags. Bhai Gurdas or Guru Arjan may have found the hope of bliss in this Kabir shabad and added it to Guru Nanak's new raag Asa. The editor of the Kabir Granthavali instead focused on coloring of the mind, body and soul to the color of oneness (tan rati kari ...), therefore the choice of Raag Gauri.

Lyrics in English and Hindi

Dulhani gavahu mangalchaar

Hum ghar aaye raaja raam bhartaar

Tan rati kari mein man rati kari hoon, panch tatt baraati

ramdev morai paahun aaye, main joban main maati

Sareer sarvar bedi karihoon brahma ved uchaar

Ramdev sang bhaavari lehoon dhan dhan bhaag hamaar

Sur tainteesu kautig aaye munivar sahas athaasi

keh kabir hum byaahi chale hain purush ek avinashi

दुलहनी गावहु मंगलचार,

हम घरि आए हो राजा राम भरतार॥टेक॥

तन रत करि मैं मन रत करिहूँ, पंचतत्त बराती।

राम देव मोरैं पाँहुनैं आये मैं जोबन मैं माती॥

सरीर सरोवर बेदी करिहूँ, ब्रह्मा वेद उचार।

रामदेव सँगि भाँवरी लैहूँ, धनि धनि भाग हमार॥

सुर तेतीसूँ कौतिग आये, मुनिवर सहस अठ्यासी।

कहै कबीर हँम ब्याहि चले हैं, पुरिष एक अबिनासी॥1॥

Translation - Wedding of Kabir

The bride sings songs of joy

Raja Raam has come to her house to be her husbad

I have colored my body and mind, five elements are the wedding guests

Raam has come to wed me, I am young and crazy

My body recites the ocean of brahma's veds

With Raam I circumambulate, what good fortune!

33 angels have come. 88,000 sages too

Kabir says the one indestructible man takes me away

On Shubha Mudgal

She has been awarded the 1996 National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Music Direction for 'Amrit Beej' [2], the 1998 Gold Plaque Award for Special Achievement in Music, at the 34th Chicago International Film Festival[2], for her music in the film Dance of the Wind (1997), and the Padma Shri in 2000.

More on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shubha_Mudgal

http://shubhamudgal.com/

More on Kabir: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabir

More Kabir Pads here: https://www.hindisamay.com/kabir-granthawali/pada.htm

Also see

Shubha Mudgal - Gawat Dulhan Gawat Mangal Chaar,

Old Composition - Dulhin Gawahu Mangala Char,

Raag Maand Composition - Dulhin Gaavahu Mangalchaar.

Hindi Bhaavarth - https://youtu.be/8oAazczoaGE

Following are lyrics and meaning of the shabad in Hindi and English. For a more detailed word-by-word analysis of the shabad see the description by Professor Sahib Singh below.

So Kyon Visre - Lyrics and Translation

ਆਸਾ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥

ਆਖਾ ਜੀਵਾ ਵਿਸਰੈ ਮਰਿ ਜਾਉ ॥

ਆਖਣਿ ਅਉਖਾ ਸਾਚਾ ਨਾਉ ॥

ਸਾਚੇ ਨਾਮ ਕੀ ਲਾਗੈ ਭੂਖ ॥

ਤਿਤੁ ਭੂਖੈ ਖਾਇ ਚਲੀਅਹਿ ਦੂਖ ॥੧॥

ਸੋ ਕਿਉ ਵਿਸਰੈ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਇ ॥

ਸਾਚਾ ਸਾਹਿਬੁ ਸਾਚੈ ਨਾਇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥

ਸਾਚੇ ਨਾਮ ਕੀ ਤਿਲੁ ਵਡਿਆਈ ॥

ਆਖਿ ਥਕੇ ਕੀਮਤਿ ਨਹੀ ਪਾਈ ॥

ਜੇ ਸਭਿ ਮਿਲਿ ਕੈ ਆਖਣ ਪਾਹਿ ॥

ਵਡਾ ਨ ਹੋਵੈ ਘਾਟਿ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥੨॥

ਨਾ ਓਹੁ ਮਰੈ ਨ ਹੋਵੈ ਸੋਗੁ ॥

ਦੇਂਦਾ ਰਹੈ ਨ ਚੂਕੈ ਭੋਗੁ ॥

ਗੁਣੁ ਏਹੋ ਹੋਰੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਕੋਇ ॥

ਨਾ ਕੋ ਹੋਆ ਨਾ ਕੋ ਹੋਇ ॥੩॥

ਜੇਵਡੁ ਆਪਿ ਤੇਵਡ ਤੇਰੀ ਦਾਤਿ ॥

ਜਿਨਿ ਦਿਨੁ ਕਰਿ ਕੈ ਕੀਤੀ ਰਾਤਿ ॥

ਖਸਮੁ ਵਿਸਾਰਹਿ ਤੇ ਕਮਜਾਤਿ ॥

ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਵੈ ਬਾਝੁ ਸਨਾਤਿ ॥੪॥੨॥

Āsā mėhlā 1.

Ākẖā(n) jīvā(n) visrai mar jāo(n).

Ākẖaṇ aukẖā sācẖā nāo.

Sācẖe nām kī lāgai bẖūkẖ.

Ŧiṯ bẖūkẖai kẖāe cẖalīahi ḏūkẖ. ||1||

So kio visrai merī māe.

Sācẖā sāhib sācẖai nāe. ||1|| rahāo.

Sācẖe nām kī ṯil vadiāī.

Ākẖ thake kīmaṯ nahī pāī.

Je sabẖ mil kai ākẖaṇ pāhi.

vadā na hovai gẖāt na jāe. ||2||

Nā oh marai na hovai sog.

Ḏeŉḏā rahai na cẖūkai bẖog.

Guṇ eho hor nāhī koe.

Nā ko hoā nā ko hoe. ||3||

Jevad āp ṯevad ṯerī ḏāṯ.

Jin ḏin kar kai kīṯī rāṯ.

Kẖasam visārėh ṯe kamjāṯ.

Nānak nāvai bājẖ sanāṯ. ||4||2||

In the melody of Hope

Chanting the Name, I live; forgetting it, I die.

It is so difficult to chant the True Name.

If someone feels hunger for the True Name,

then that hunger shall consume his pains. ||1||

So how could I ever forget Him, O my Mother?

True is the Master, and True is His Name. ||1||Pause||

The greatness of even an iota of the True Name,

people have grown weary of trying to appraise but they have not been able to.

Even if they were all to meet together and recount them,

You would not be made any greater or lesser. ||2||

He does not die - there is no reason to mourn.

He continues to give, but His Provisions are never exhausted.

This Glorious Virtue is His alone - no one else is like Him;

there has never been anyone like Him, and there never shall be. ||3||

As Great as You Yourself are, so Great are Your Gifts.

It is You who created day and night as well.

Those who forget their Lord and Master are vile and despicable.

O Nanak, without the Name, people are wretched outcasts. ||4||2||

Detailed Explanation in Punjabi by Prof. Sahib Singh (See below for Hindi)

ਆਸਾ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥ ਆਖਾ ਜੀਵਾ ਵਿਸਰੈ ਮਰਿ ਜਾਉ ॥ ਆਖਣਿ ਅਉਖਾ ਸਾਚਾ ਨਾਉ ॥ ਸਾਚੇ ਨਾਮ ਕੀ ਲਾਗੈ ਭੂਖ ॥ ਤਿਤੁ ਭੂਖੈ ਖਾਇ ਚਲੀਅਹਿ ਦੂਖ ॥੧॥ ਸੋ ਕਿਉ ਵਿਸਰੈ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਇ ॥ ਸਾਚਾ ਸਾਹਿਬੁ ਸਾਚੈ ਨਾਇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ ਸਾਚੇ ਨਾਮ ਕੀ ਤਿਲੁ ਵਡਿਆਈ ॥ ਆਖਿ ਥਕੇ ਕੀਮਤਿ ਨਹੀ ਪਾਈ ॥ ਜੇ ਸਭਿ ਮਿਲਿ ਕੈ ਆਖਣ ਪਾਹਿ ॥ ਵਡਾ ਨ ਹੋਵੈ ਘਾਟਿ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥੨॥ ਨਾ ਓਹੁ ਮਰੈ ਨ ਹੋਵੈ ਸੋਗੁ ॥ ਦੇਂਦਾ ਰਹੈ ਨ ਚੂਕੈ ਭੋਗੁ ॥ ਗੁਣੁ ਏਹੋ ਹੋਰੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਕੋਇ ॥ ਨਾ ਕੋ ਹੋਆ ਨਾ ਕੋ ਹੋਇ ॥੩॥ ਜੇਵਡੁ ਆਪਿ ਤੇਵਡ ਤੇਰੀ ਦਾਤਿ ॥ ਜਿਨਿ ਦਿਨੁ ਕਰਿ ਕੈ ਕੀਤੀ ਰਾਤਿ ॥ ਖਸਮੁ ਵਿਸਾਰਹਿ ਤੇ ਕਮਜਾਤਿ ॥ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਵੈ ਬਾਝੁ ਸਨਾਤਿ ॥੪॥੨॥ {ਪੰਨਾ 349}

ਪਦ ਅਰਥ: ਆਖਾ = ਆਖਾਂ, ਮੈਂ ਆਖਦਾ ਹਾਂ, ਮੈਂ ਉਚਾਰਦਾ ਹਾਂ। ਜੀਵਾ = ਜੀਵਾਂ, ਮੈਂ ਜੀਊਂਦਾ ਹਾਂ, ਮੇਰੇ ਅੰਦਰ ਆਤਮਕ ਜੀਵਨ ਪੈਦਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਤਿਤੁ ਭੂਖੈ = ਇਸ ਭੁਖ ਦੇ ਕਾਰਨ। ਖਾਇ = (ਨਾਮ-ਭੋਜਨ) ਖਾ ਕੇ। ਚਲੀਅਹਿ = ਨਾਸ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ।1।

ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਇ = ਹੇ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਂ! ਸਾਚਾ = ਸਦਾ ਕਾਇਮ ਰਹਿਣ ਵਾਲਾ। ਸਾਚੈ = ਸੱਚੇ ਦੀ ਰਾਹੀਂ। ਨਾਇ = ਨਾਮ ਦੀ ਰਾਹੀਂ। ਸਾਚੈ ਨਾਇ = ਸੱਚੇ ਨਾਮ ਦੀ ਰਾਹੀਂ, ਜਿਉਂ ਜਿਉਂ ਸਦਾ-ਥਿਰ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ ਸਿਮਰੀਏ। ਕਿਉ ਵਿਸਰੈ = ਕਦੇ ਨ ਵਿਸਰੇ।1। ਰਹਾਉ।

ਸਭਿ = ਸਾਰੇ ਜੀਵ। ਆਖਣ ਪਾਹਿ = ਆਖਣ ਦਾ ਜਤਨ ਕਰਨ।2।

ਗੁਣੁ ਏਹੋ = ਇਹ ਹੀ (ਉਸ ਦੀ) ਖ਼ੂਬੀ ਹੈ। ਹੋਆ = ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ। ਨਾ ਹੋਇ = ਨਹੀਂ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ।3।

ਜੇਵਡੁ = ਜੇਡਾ ਵੱਡਾ। ਤੇਵਡ = ਉਤਨੀ ਵੱਡੀ। ਜਿਨਿ = ਜਿਸ (ਤੈਂ) ਨੇ। ਕਮਜਾਤਿ = ਭੈੜੀ ਜਾਤਿ ਵਾਲੀਆਂ। ਸਨਾਤਿ = ਨੀਚ।4।

ਅਰਥ: ਜਿਉਂ ਜਿਉਂ ਮੈਂ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ ਉਚਾਰਦਾ ਹਾਂ ਮੇਰੇ ਅੰਦਰ ਆਤਮਕ ਜੀਵਨ ਪੈਦਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਜਦੋਂ ਮੈਨੂੰ ਨਾਮ ਭੁੱਲ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਮੇਰੀ ਆਤਮਕ ਮੌਤ ਹੋਣ ਲੱਗ ਪੈਂਦੀ ਹੈ। (ਇਹ ਪਤਾ ਹੁੰਦਿਆਂ ਭੀ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ) ਸਦਾ-ਥਿਰ ਨਾਮ ਸਿਮਰਨਾ (ਇਕ) ਔਖਾ ਕੰਮ ਹੈ। (ਜਿਸ ਮਨੁੱਖ ਦੇ ਅੰਦਰ) ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ ਸਦਾ-ਥਿਰ ਨਾਮ ਸਿਮਰਨ ਦੀ ਭੁੱਖ ਪੈਦਾ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਹੈ, ਇਸ ਭੁੱਖ ਦੀ ਬਰਕਤਿ ਨਾਲ (ਨਾਮ-ਭੋਜਨ) ਖਾ ਕੇ ਉਸ ਦੇ ਸਾਰੇ ਦੁੱਖ ਦੂਰ ਹੋ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ।1।

ਹੇ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਂ! (ਅਰਦਾਸ ਕਰ ਕਿ) ਉਹ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਮੈਨੂੰ ਕਦੇ ਨ ਭੁੱਲੇ। ਜਿਉਂ ਜਿਉਂ ਉਸ ਸਦਾ-ਥਿਰ ਰਹਿਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ ਸਿਮਰੀਏ, ਤਿਉਂ ਤਿਉਂ ਉਹ ਸਦਾ-ਥਿਰ ਰਹਿਣ ਵਾਲਾ ਮਾਲਕ (ਮਨ ਵਿਚ ਵੱਸਦਾ ਹੈ) ।1। ਰਹਾਉ।

ਸਦਾ-ਥਿਰ ਰਹਿਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਦੇ ਨਾਮ ਦੀ ਰਤਾ ਜਿਤਨੀ ਭੀ ਮਹਿਮਾ (ਸਾਰੇ ਜੀਵ) ਬਿਆਨ ਕਰ ਕੇ ਥੱਕ ਗਏ ਹਨ (ਬਿਆਨ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰ ਸਕਦੇ) । ਕੋਈ ਭੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਦੱਸ ਸਕਿਆ ਕਿ ਉਸ ਦੇ ਬਰਾਬਰ ਦੀ ਕੇਹੜੀ ਹੋਰ ਹਸਤੀ ਹੈ। ਜੇ (ਜਗਤ ਦੇ) ਸਾਰੇ ਹੀ ਜੀਵ ਰਲ ਕੇ (ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਦੀ ਮਹਿਮਾ) ਬਿਆਨ ਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਜਤਨ ਕਰਨ, ਤਾਂ ਉਹ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ (ਆਪਣੇ ਅਸਲੇ ਨਾਲੋਂ) ਵੱਡਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੋ ਜਾਂਦਾ (ਤੇ ਜੇ ਕੋਈ ਭੀ ਉਸ ਦੀ ਵਡਿਆਈ ਨਾਹ ਕਰੇ) ਤਾਂ ਉਹ (ਅੱਗੇ ਨਾਲੋਂ) ਘਟ ਨਹੀਂ ਜਾਂਦਾ।2।

ਉਹ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਕਦੇ ਮਰਦਾ ਨਹੀਂ, ਨਾਹ ਹੀ (ਉਸ ਦੀ ਖ਼ਾਤਰ) ਸੋਗ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਉਹ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਸਦਾ (ਜੀਵਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਰਿਜ਼ਕ) ਦੇਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਉਸ ਦੀਆਂ ਦਿੱਤੀਆਂ ਦਾਤਾਂ ਦਾ ਵਰਤਣਾ ਕਦੇ ਮੁੱਕਦਾ ਨਹੀਂ (ਭਾਵ, ਜੀਵ ਉਸ ਦੀਆਂ ਦਿੱਤੀਆਂ ਦਾਤਾਂ ਸਦਾ ਵਰਤਦੇ ਹਨ ਪਰ ਉਹ ਮੁੱਕਦੀਆਂ ਨਹੀਂ) । ਉਸ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦੀ ਵੱਡੀ ਖ਼ੂਬੀ ਇਹ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕੋਈ ਹੋਰ ਉਸ ਵਰਗਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ, (ਉਸ ਵਰਗਾ ਅਜੇ ਤਕ) ਨਾਹ ਕੋਈ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ, ਨਾਹ ਕਦੇ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ।3।

(ਹੇ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ!) ਜੇਡਾ (ਬੇਅੰਤ ਤੂੰ) ਆਪ ਹੈਂ, ਉਤਨੀ (ਬੇਅੰਤ) ਤੇਰੀ ਬਖ਼ਸ਼ਸ਼ ਹੈ, (ਤੂੰ ਐਸਾ ਹੈਂ) ਜਿਸ ਨੇ ਦਿਨ ਬਣਾਇਆ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਰਾਤ ਬਣਾਈ ਹੈ।

ਹੇ ਨਾਨਕ! ਉਹ ਬੰਦੇ ਭੈੜੇ ਅਸਲੇ ਵਾਲੇ (ਬਣ ਜਾਂਦੇ) ਹਨ ਜੋ ਐਸੇ ਖਸਮ-ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਨੂੰ ਵਿਸਾਰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਨਾਮ ਤੋਂ ਖੁੰਝੇ ਹੋਏ ਜੀਵ ਨੀਚ ਹਨ।4।2।

Detailed Explanation in Hindi by Prof. Sahib Singh

आसा महला १ ॥ आखा जीवा विसरै मरि जाउ ॥ आखणि अउखा साचा नाउ ॥ साचे नाम की लागै भूख ॥ तितु भूखै खाइ चलीअहि दूख ॥१॥

पद्अर्थ: आखा = मैं कहता हूँ, मैं उचारता हूँ। जीवा = जीऊँ, मैं जीता हूँ, मेरे अंदर आत्मिक जीवन पैदा होता है। तितु भूखै = इस भूख के कारण। खाइ = (नाम भोजन) खा के। चलीअहि = नाश किए जाते हैं।1।

अर्थ: ज्यों-ज्यों मैं प्रभु का नाम उचारता हूँ मेरे अंदर आत्मिक जीवन पैदा होता है। जब मुझे नाम भूल जाता है, मेरी आत्मिक मौत होने लग जाती है। (ये पता होते हुए भी प्रभु का) सदा स्थिर नाम स्मरणा (एक) मुश्किल काम है। (जिस मनुष्य के अंदर) प्रभु के सदा स्थिर नाम के नाम जपने की भूख पैदा होती है, इस भूख की इनायत से (नाम भोजन) खा के उसके सारे दुख दूर हो जाते हैं।1।

सो किउ विसरै मेरी माइ ॥ साचा साहिबु साचै नाइ ॥१॥ रहाउ॥

पद्अर्थ: मेरी माइ = हे मेरी माँ! सचा = सदा कायम रहने वाला। साचै = सच्चे के द्वारा। नाइ = नाम के द्वारा, ज्यों ज्यों सदा स्थिर प्रभु का नाम स्मरण करें। किउ विसरै = कभी ना बिसरे।1। रहाउ।

अर्थ: हे मेरी माँ! (अरदास कर कि) वह प्रभु मुझे कभी ना भूले। ज्यों-ज्यों उस सदा स्थिर रहने वाले का नाम स्मरण करें, त्यों-त्यों वह सदा स्थिर रहने वाला मालिक (मन में बसता है)।1। रहाउ।

साचे नाम की तिलु वडिआई ॥ आखि थके कीमति नही पाई ॥ जे सभि मिलि कै आखण पाहि ॥ वडा न होवै घाटि न जाइ ॥२॥

पद्अर्थ: सभि = सारे जीव। आखण पाहि = कहने का यत्न करें।2।

अर्थ: सदा स्थिर रहने वाले परमात्मा के नाम की रत्ती जितनी भी महिमा (सारे जीव) बयान करके थक गए है (बयान नहीं कर सकते)। कोई भी बता नहीं सका कि उसके बराबर की कौन सी और हस्ती है। अगर (जगत के) सारे ही जीव मिल के (परमात्मा की महिमा) बयान करने का यत्न करें, तो वह परमात्मा (अपने असल से) बड़ा नहीं हो जाता (और अगर कोई उसकी महिमा का बखान ना करे) तो वह (पहले से) कम नहीं हो जाता।2।

ना ओहु मरै न होवै सोगु ॥ देंदा रहै न चूकै भोगु ॥ गुणु एहो होरु नाही कोइ ॥ ना को होआ ना को होइ ॥३॥

पद्अर्थ: गुणु एहो = यह ही (उसकी) खूबी है। होआ = हुआ है। ना होइ = नहीं होगा।3।

अर्थ: वह परमात्मा कभी मरता नहीं, ना ही (उसकी खातिर) सोग होता है। वह प्रभु सदा (जीवों को रिज़क) देता है। उसकी दी हुई दातों का वितरण कभी खत्म नहीं होता (भाव, जीव उस की दी हुई दातें सदैव बरतते हैं पर वे खत्म नहीं होतीं)। उस प्रभु की बड़ी खूबी ये है कि कोई और उस जैसा नहीं है, (उस जैसा अभी तक) ना कोई हुआ है ना ही कभी होगा।3।

जेवडु आपि तेवड तेरी दाति ॥ जिनि दिनु करि कै कीती राति ॥ खसमु विसारहि ते कमजाति ॥ नानक नावै बाझु सनाति ॥४॥२॥

पद्अर्थ: जेवडु = जितना बड़ा। तेवड = उतनी बड़ी। जिनि = जिस ने। कमजाति = बुरी अथवा नीच जाति वाली। सनाति = नीच।4।

अर्थ: (हे प्रभु!) जितना (बेअंत तू) खुद है, उतनी (बेअंत) तेरी बख्शिश है, (तू ऐसा है) जिसने दिन बनाया है और रात बनाई है।

हे नानक! वह लोग बुरी अस्लियत वाले (बन जाते) हैं जो पति-प्रभु को बिसारते हैं। नाम से वंचित हुए जीव नीच हैं।4।2।

No better time than Diwali to think about this: no one knows the light within unless the enlightener enables the soul. This is a new composition of Bhagat Sant Namdev's shabad in Raag Parbhati. It is part of my 750 year anniversary celebrations for Bhagat Sant Namdev. This is a rare shabad hardly ever sung, also sung in a rare raag. Lyrics and meanings are below.

Lyrics in English - Jee Ki Jot

Parbẖāṯī.

Akul purakẖ ik cẖaliṯ upāiā.

Gẖat gẖat anṯar barahm lukāiā. ||1||

Jīa kī joṯ na jānai koī.

Ŧai mai kīā so mālūm hoī. ||1|| rahāo.

Jio pargāsiā mātī kumbẖeo.

Āp hī karṯā bīṯẖul ḏeo. ||2||

Jīa kā banḏẖan karam biāpai.

Jo kicẖẖ kīā so āpai āpai. ||3||

Paraṇvaṯ nāmḏeo ih jīo cẖiṯvai so lahai.

Amar hoe saḏ ākul rahai. ||4||3||

Translation in English by Mohan Singh:

Prabhaatee:

The Primal Being has no ancestry; He has staged this play.

God is hidden deep within each and every heart. ||1||

No one knows the Light of the soul.

Whatever I do, is known to You, Lord. ||1||Pause||

Just as the pitcher is made from clay,

everything is made from the Beloved Divine Creator Himself. ||2||

The mortal's actions hold the soul in the bondage of karma.

Whatever he does, he does on his own. ||3||

Prays Naam Dayv, whatever this soul wants, it obtains.

Whoever abides in the Lord, becomes immortal. ||4||3||

My Thoughts - Jee Ki Jot

No one knows the light within

The enlightener makes it known

The one beyond Lineage plays a game

He hid brahm in every vessel

Like a pot emerges from earth

Beethal is the doer of everything

Life is entangled by karma

He himself is the entangler

Resting my mind on you I am lit

I am beyond death and lineage

Punjabi Translation by Professor Sahib Singh

ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ ॥ ਅਕੁਲ ਪੁਰਖ ਇਕੁ ਚਲਿਤੁ ਉਪਾਇਆ ॥ ਘਟਿ ਘਟਿ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਲੁਕਾਇਆ ॥੧॥ ਜੀਅ ਕੀ ਜੋਤਿ ਨ ਜਾਨੈ ਕੋਈ ॥ ਤੈ ਮੈ ਕੀਆ ਸੁ ਮਾਲੂਮੁ ਹੋਈ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ ਜਿਉ ਪ੍ਰਗਾਸਿਆ ਮਾਟੀ ਕੁੰਭੇਉ ॥ ਆਪ ਹੀ ਕਰਤਾ ਬੀਠੁਲੁ ਦੇਉ ॥੨॥ ਜੀਅ ਕਾ ਬੰਧਨੁ ਕਰਮੁ ਬਿਆਪੈ ॥ ਜੋ ਕਿਛੁ ਕੀਆ ਸੁ ਆਪੈ ਆਪੈ ॥੩॥ ਪ੍ਰਣਵਤਿ ਨਾਮਦੇਉ ਇਹੁ ਜੀਉ ਚਿਤਵੈ ਸੁ ਲਹੈ ॥ ਅਮਰੁ ਹੋਇ ਸਦ ਆਕੁਲ ਰਹੈ ॥੪॥੩॥ {ਪੰਨਾ 1351}

ਪਦ ਅਰਥ: ਕੁ-ਧਰਤੀ। ਕੁਲ = ਧਰਤੀ ਤੇ ਪੈਦਾ ਹੋਇਆ, ਖ਼ਾਨਦਾਨ, ਬੰਸ। ਅਕੁਲ = (ਅ-ਕੁਲ) ਜੋ ਧਰਤੀ ਉਤੇ ਜੰਮੀ (ਕਿਸੇ ਕੁਲ) ਵਿਚੋਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ। ਪੁਰਖ = ਸਭ ਵਿਚ ਵਿਆਪਕ (Skt. puir _yqy eiq pu{ =) । ਚਲਿਤੁ = ਜਗਤ-ਰੂਪ ਤਮਾਸ਼ਾ। ਘਟਿ ਘਟਿ = ਹਰੇਕ ਘਟ ਵਿਚ। ਅੰਤਰਿ = ਹਰੇਕ ਦੇ ਅੰਦਰ। ਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ = ਆਤਮਾ, ਜਿੰਦ।1।

ਜੀਅ ਕੀ ਜੋਤਿ = ਹਰੇਕ ਜੀਵ ਦੇ ਅੰਦਰ ਵੱਸਦੀ ਜੋਤਿ। ਕੋਈ = ਕੋਈ ਪ੍ਰਾਣੀ। ਤੈ ਮੈ ਕੀਆ = ਅਸਾਂ ਜੀਵਾਂ ਨੇ ਜੋ ਕੁਝ ਕੀਤਾ, ਅਸੀਂ ਜੀਵ ਜੋ ਕੁਝ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਾਂ। ਮੈ = ਤੂੰ ਤੇ ਮੈਂ, ਅਸੀਂ ਸਾਰੇ ਜੀਵ। ਹੋਈ = ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ।1। ਰਹਾਉ।

ਜਿਉ = ਜਿਵੇਂ। ਕੁੰਭੇਉ = ਕੁੰਭ, ਘੜਾ। ਕਰਤਾ = ਪੈਦਾ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲਾ। ਬੀਠੁਲ ਦੇਉ = ਮਾਇਆ ਤੋਂ ਰਹਿਤ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ।2।

ਕਰਮੁ = ਕੀਤਾ ਹੋਇਆ ਕੰਮ। ਬੰਧਨੁ = ਜੰਜਾਲ। ਬਿਆਪੈ = ਪ੍ਰਭਾਵ ਪਾ ਰੱਖਦਾ ਹੈ। ਆਪੈ = ਆਪ ਹੀ ਆਪ, ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਨੇ ਆਪ ਹੀ।3।

ਚਿਤਵੈ = ਚਿਤਵਦਾ ਹੈ, ਤਾਂਘ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਲਹੈ– ਹਾਸਲ ਕਰ ਲੈਂਦਾ ਹੈ। ਅਮਰੁ = (ਅ-ਮਰੁ) ਮੌਤ-ਰਹਿਤ। ਆਕੁਲ = ਸਰਬ-ਵਿਆਪਕ।4।

ਅਰਥ: ਜਿਸ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਦੀ ਕੋਈ ਖ਼ਾਸ ਕੁਲ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਉਸ ਸਰਬ-ਵਿਆਪਕ ਨੇ ਇਹ ਜਗਤ-ਰੂਪ ਇਕ ਖੇਡ ਬਣਾ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਹੈ। ਹਰੇਕ ਸਰੀਰ ਵਿਚ, ਹਰੇਕ ਦੇ ਅੰਦਰ ਉਸ ਨੇ ਆਪਣਾ ਆਤਮਾ ਗੁਪਤ ਰੱਖ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਹੈ।1।

ਸਾਰੇ ਜੀਵਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਵੱਸਦੀ ਜੋਤਿ ਨੂੰ ਤਾਂ ਕੋਈ ਪ੍ਰਾਣੀ ਜਾਣਦਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ, ਪਰ ਅਸੀਂ ਸਾਰੇ ਜੀਵ ਜੋ ਕੁਝ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਾਂ (ਸਾਡੇ ਅੰਦਰ) ਉਸ ਅੰਦਰ-ਵੱਸਦੀ-ਜੋਤਿ ਨੂੰ ਮਲੂਮ ਹੋ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ।1। ਰਹਾਉ।

ਜਿਵੇਂ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਤੋਂ ਘੜਾ ਬਣ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ, (ਤਿਵੇਂ ਉਸ ਪਰਮ-ਜੋਤਿ ਤੋਂ ਸਾਰੇ ਜੀਵ ਬਣਦੇ ਹਨ, ਪਰ) ਉਹ ਬੀਠੁਲ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਆਪ ਹੀ ਸਭ ਦਾ ਪੈਦਾ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲਾ ਹੈ।2।

ਜੀਵ ਦਾ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੋਇਆ ਕੰਮ ਉਸ ਲਈ ਜੰਜਾਲ ਹੋ ਢੁਕਦਾ ਹੈ, ਪਰ ਇਹ ਜੰਜਾਲ ਆਦਿਕ ਭੀ ਜੋ ਕੁਝ ਬਣਾਇਆ ਹੈ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਨੇ ਆਪ ਹੀ ਬਣਾਇਆ ਹੈ।3।

ਨਾਮਦੇਵ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ, ਇਹ ਜੀਵ ਜਿਸ ਸ਼ੈ ਉਤੇ ਆਪਣਾ ਮਨ ਟਿਕਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਹਾਸਲ ਕਰ ਲੈਂਦਾ ਹੈ (ਮਾਇਆ-ਜਾਲ ਦੀ ਚਿਤਵਨੀ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ ਤਾਂ ਮਾਇਆ-ਜਾਲ ਵਿਚ ਫਸ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ, ਪਰ) ਜੇ ਇਹ ਜੀਵ ਸਰਬ-ਵਿਆਪਕ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਨੂੰ ਆਪਣੇ ਮਨ ਵਿਚ ਟਿਕਾਏ ਤਾਂ (ਉਸ ਅਮਰ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਵਿਚ ਟਿਕ ਕੇ ਆਪ ਭੀ) ਅਮਰ ਹੋ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ।4।

ਸ਼ਬਦ ਦਾ ਭਾਵ: ਸਰਬ-ਵਿਆਪਕ ਪਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਨੇ ਜਗਤ ਦੀ ਇਹ ਖੇਡ ਆਪ ਹੀ ਰਚਾਈ ਹੈ।

Hindi Translation by Professor Sahib Singh

प्रभाती ॥ अकुल पुरख इकु चलितु उपाइआ ॥ घटि घटि अंतरि ब्रहमु लुकाइआ ॥१॥

पद्अर्थ: कु = धरती। कुल = धरती से पैदा हुआ, खानदान, वंश। अकुल = (अ+कुल) जो धरती के ऊपर पैदा हुई (किसी भी) कुल में से नहीं है। पुरख = सब में व्यापक (संस्कृत: पुरि शेते इति पुरुष:)। चलित्रु = जगत रूप तमाशा। घटि घटि = हरेक घट में। अंतरि = हरेक के अंदर। ब्रहमु = आत्मा, जिंद।1।

अर्थ: जिस परमात्मा की कोई खास कुल नहीं है उस सर्व-व्यापक ने ये जगत-रूप एक खेल बना दी है। हरेक शरीर में, हरेक के अंदर उसने अपनी आत्मा गुप्त रख दी है।1।

जीअ की जोति न जानै कोई ॥ तै मै कीआ सु मालूमु होई ॥१॥ रहाउ॥

पद्अर्थ: जीअ की जोति = हरेक जीव के अंदर बसती ज्योति। कोई = कोई प्राणी। तै मै कीआ = हम जीवों ने जो कुछ किया, हम जीव जो कुछ करते हैं। मैं = तू और मैं, हम सारे जीव। होई = होता है।1। रहाउ।

अर्थ: सारे जीवों में बसती ज्योति को तो कोई प्राणी जानता नहीं है, पर हम सारे जीव जो कुछ करते हैं (हमारे अंदर) उस अंदर-बस-रही-ज्योति को मालूम हो जाता है।1। रहाउ।

जिउ प्रगासिआ माटी कु्मभेउ ॥ आप ही करता बीठुलु देउ ॥२॥

पद्अर्थ: जिउ = जैसे। कुंभेउ = कुंभ, घड़ा। करता = पैदा करने वाला। बीठुल देउ = माया से रहित प्रभु।2।

अर्थ: जैसे मिट्टी से घड़ा बन जाता है, (वैसे ही उस परम ज्योति से सारे जीव बनते हैं, पर) वह बीठलु प्रभु खुद ही सबको पैदा करने वाला है।2।

जीअ का बंधनु करमु बिआपै ॥ जो किछु कीआ सु आपै आपै ॥३॥

पद्अर्थ: करमु = किया हुआ कर्म। बंधनु = जंजाल। बिआपै = प्रभाव डाले रखता है। आपै = आप ही आप, प्रभु ने आप ही।3।

अर्थ: जीव का किया हुआ काम उसके लिए जंजाल बन जाता है, पर यह जंजाल आदि भी जो कुछ बनाया है प्रभु ने स्वयं ही बनाया है।3।

प्रणवति नामदेउ इहु जीउ चितवै सु लहै ॥ अमरु होइ सद आकुल रहै ॥४॥३॥

पद्अर्थ: चितवै = चितवता है, तमन्ना रखता है। लहै = हासिल कर लेता है। अमरु = (अ+मरु) मौत रहित। आकुल = सर्व व्यापक।4।

अर्थ: नामदेव विनती करता है, यह जीव जिस शै के ऊपर अपना मन टिकाता है उसको हासिल कर लेता है (माया-जाल की चितवनी करता है और माया-जाल में फंस जाता है, पर) अगर यह जीव सर्व-व्यापक परमात्मा को अपने मन में टिकाए तो (उस अमर प्रभु में टिक के स्वयं भी) अमर हो जाता है।4।

शब्द का भाव: सर्व-व्यापक परमात्मा ने जगत की यह खेल खुद ही रची है।

नोट: नामदेव जी का ‘बीठुल’ वह है जो ‘आप ही करता’ है जिस ने यह जगत-तमाशा बनाया है और जिसको सब जीवों के दिल के भेद मालूम हो जाते हैं। यह शब्द ‘बीठुल’ सतिगुरु जी ने भी अपनी वाणी में कई बार बरता है। अगर निरा यह शब्द बरतने से ही नामदेव जी को किसी बीठुल-मूर्ति का उपासक मान लेना है तो यह शब्द सतिगुरु जी ने भी उपयोग किया है।

Every time I am reminded of how powerless we are, I am reminded of this shabad by Guru Nanak: karta sab ko terai jor. Perhaps for Guru Nanak's 551st birthday I can work on a new version of this shabad. I have a composition of this shabad in Raag Shri (purvi thaat), but this one is in the rarer kafi thaat Raag Shri. I recorded a concept version yesterday (project 20168: Bb Kafi thaat Shri, 130 bpm).

Karta Sab Ko Terai Jor

Ek Shabad Beechariye Jaa Tu Taa Kya Hor

Poem

O Doer, you have ultimate control

I remember One shabad, and that is you, what else?

Preliminary thoughts on the shabad - when spiritual companions come together, what do they sing:

Your one shabad is the ultimate doer.

Come and embrace spiritual companions,

Let's meet to tell the stories of the powerful one

all virtues are his, all vices are ours!

Your one shabad is the ultimate doer, the karṯā

Ask the fortunate ones how they remain in bliss

Through effortless, contentment and sweet words

Flavorful love is found through listening of the shabad

Your one shabad is the ultimate doer, the karṯā

Your powers are boundless, your gifts bountiful

numerous life forms sing your praise

your forms, colors and classes are innumerable

Your one shabad is the ultimate doer, the karṯā

obtaining truth we grow truth and finally absorb in the truth

understanding brings true honor and vanquishes fear

the true king himself is the one that helps you meet him

ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥

सिरीरागु महला १ ॥

Sirīrāg mėhlā 1.

Siree Raag, First Mehl:

ਆਵਹੁ ਭੈਣੇ ਗਲਿ ਮਿਲਹ ਅੰਕਿ ਸਹੇਲੜੀਆਹ ॥

आवहु भैणे गलि मिलह अंकि सहेलड़ीआह ॥

Āvhu bẖaiṇe gal milah ank sahelṛīāh.

Come, my dear sisters and spiritual companions; hug me close in your embrace.

ਮਿਲਿ ਕੈ ਕਰਹ ਕਹਾਣੀਆ ਸੰਮ੍ਰਥ ਕੰਤ ਕੀਆਹ ॥

मिलि कै करह कहाणीआ सम्रथ कंत कीआह ॥

Mil kai karah kahāṇīā samrath kanṯ kīāh.

Let's join together, and tell stories of our All-powerful Husband Lord.

ਸਾਚੇ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਸਭਿ ਗੁਣ ਅਉਗਣ ਸਭਿ ਅਸਾਹ ॥੧॥

साचे साहिब सभि गुण अउगण सभि असाह ॥१॥

Sācẖe sāhib sabẖ guṇ augaṇ sabẖ asāh. ||1||

All Virtues are in our True Lord and Master; we are utterly without virtue. ||1||

ਕਰਤਾ ਸਭੁ ਕੋ ਤੇਰੈ ਜੋਰਿ ॥

करता सभु को तेरै जोरि ॥

Karṯā sabẖ ko ṯerai jor.

O Creator Lord, all are in Your Power.

ਏਕੁ ਸਬਦੁ ਬੀਚਾਰੀਐ ਜਾ ਤੂ ਤਾ ਕਿਆ ਹੋਰਿ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥

एकु सबदु बीचारीऐ जा तू ता किआ होरि ॥१॥ रहाउ ॥

Ėk sabaḏ bīcẖārīai jā ṯū ṯā kiā hor. ||1|| rahāo.

I dwell upon the One Word of the Shabad. You are mine-what else do I need? ||1||Pause||

ਜਾਇ ਪੁਛਹੁ ਸੋਹਾਗਣੀ ਤੁਸੀ ਰਾਵਿਆ ਕਿਨੀ ਗੁਣੀ ॥

जाइ पुछहु सोहागणी तुसी राविआ किनी गुणीं ॥

Jāe pucẖẖahu sohāgaṇī ṯusī rāviā kinī guṇī.

Go, and ask the happy soul-brides, "By what virtuous qualities do you enjoy your Husband Lord?

ਸਹਜਿ ਸੰਤੋਖਿ ਸੀਗਾਰੀਆ ਮਿਠਾ ਬੋਲਣੀ ॥

सहजि संतोखि सीगारीआ मिठा बोलणी ॥

Sahj sanṯokẖ sīgārīā miṯẖā bolṇī.

We are adorned with intuitive ease, contentment and sweet words.

ਪਿਰੁ ਰੀਸਾਲੂ ਤਾ ਮਿਲੈ ਜਾ ਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਸਬਦੁ ਸੁਣੀ ॥੨॥

पिरु रीसालू ता मिलै जा गुर का सबदु सुणी ॥२॥

Pir rīsālū ṯā milai jā gur kā sabaḏ suṇī. ||2||

We meet with our Beloved, the Source of Joy, when we listen to the Word of the Guru's Shabad." ||2||

ਕੇਤੀਆ ਤੇਰੀਆ ਕੁਦਰਤੀ ਕੇਵਡ ਤੇਰੀ ਦਾਤਿ ॥

केतीआ तेरीआ कुदरती केवड तेरी दाति ॥

Keṯīā ṯerīā kuḏraṯī kevad ṯerī ḏāṯ.

You have so many Creative Powers, Lord; Your Bountiful Blessings are so Great.

ਕੇਤੇ ਤੇਰੇ ਜੀਅ ਜੰਤ ਸਿਫਤਿ ਕਰਹਿ ਦਿਨੁ ਰਾਤਿ ॥

केते तेरे जीअ जंत सिफति करहि दिनु राति ॥

Keṯe ṯere jīa janṯ sifaṯ karahi ḏin rāṯ.

So many of Your beings and creatures praise You day and night.

ਕੇਤੇ ਤੇਰੇ ਰੂਪ ਰੰਗ ਕੇਤੇ ਜਾਤਿ ਅਜਾਤਿ ॥੩॥

केते तेरे रूप रंग केते जाति अजाति ॥३॥

Keṯe ṯere rūp rang keṯe jāṯ ajāṯ. ||3||

You have so many forms and colors, so many classes, high and low. ||3||

ਸਚੁ ਮਿਲੈ ਸਚੁ ਊਪਜੈ ਸਚ ਮਹਿ ਸਾਚਿ ਸਮਾਇ ॥

सचु मिलै सचु ऊपजै सच महि साचि समाइ ॥

Sacẖ milai sacẖ ūpjai sacẖ mėh sācẖ samāe.

Meeting the True One, Truth wells up. The truthful are absorbed into the True Lord.

ਸੁਰਤਿ ਹੋਵੈ ਪਤਿ ਊਗਵੈ ਗੁਰਬਚਨੀ ਭਉ ਖਾਇ ॥

सुरति होवै पति ऊगवै गुरबचनी भउ खाइ ॥

Suraṯ hovai paṯ ūgvai gurbacẖnī bẖao kẖāe.

Intuitive understanding is obtained and one is welcomed with honor, through the Guru's Word, filled with the Fear of God.

ਨਾਨਕ ਸਚਾ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੁ ਆਪੇ ਲਏ ਮਿਲਾਇ ॥੪॥੧੦॥

नानक सचा पातिसाहु आपे लए मिलाइ ॥४॥१०॥

Nānak sacẖā pāṯisāhu āpe lae milāe. ||4||10||

O Nanak, the True King absorbs us into Himself. ||4||10||

I was thinking about this recently. It is better to lie to others than to lie to yourself. I guess that makes a stubborn person. But if you are right and stubborn, it is okay!

Quote from Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself.

More context on this quote:

And above all, do not be so ashamed of yourself, for that is at the root of it all … You have known for a long time what you must do. You have sense enough: don't give way to drunkenness and incontinence of speech; don't give way to sensual lust; and, above all, to the love of money. And close your taverns. If you can't close all, at least two or three. And, above all—don't lie … Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself. The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than any one. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn't it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill—he knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness. But get up, sit down, I beg you. All this, too, is deceitful posturing …

Reminds me of Satnam Meditation ... Meditation on the "The True Name"

More on The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov, also translated as The Karamazov Brothers, is the final novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger from January 1879 to November 1880. Dostoevsky died less than four months after its publication.

Set in 19th-century Russia, The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel that enters deeply into questions of God, free will, and morality. It is a theological drama dealing with problems of faith, doubt and reason in the context of a modernizing Russia, with a plot that revolves around the subject of patricide. Dostoevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.

Today I heard that there would be ice cream at President-elect Biden's victory speech and I was reminded of this poem by Wallace Stevens: The Emperor of Ice-Cream. First the poem, and then some thoughts on it ...

The Emperor of Ice-Cream

Call the roller of big cigars,

The muscular one, and bid him whip

In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.

Let the wenches dawdle in such dress

As they are used to wear, and let the boys

Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.

Let be be finale of seem.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal,

Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet

On which she embroidered fantails once

And spread it so as to cover her face.

If her horny feet protrude, they come

To show how cold she is, and dumb.

Let the lamp affix its beam.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Wallace Stevens

My Take on Wallace Steven's The Emperor of Ice-Cream

I read this poem 10 years ago and it is sounds as beautiful as ever. After the death of this woman, she lies "cold" and "dumb," and one person, apparently the emperor of ice cream, directs the activities involved in her memorial service. This is some sort of a celebration; perhaps the woman lived a full life and the memorial includes ice cream and flowers. The poem is about the temporariness of life; it emphasizes that there are no real emperors in this world. All power is temporary. Its like ice-cream: it melts away. Just like Hamlet reminds Claudius in Shakespeare's play, emperors and their powers are temporary (more below). The best of emperors are just temporary caretakers of temporary things that appear sweet and sexy. Then they move on. In the end, what seems is not true (Let "be" be finale of seem). Truth remains in the end. Let this be clear. Shine some light on this meditation: the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Emperor Reference from Hamlet

Some say that the reference of Emperor comes from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king Claudius, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel, during which the King, Queen, Hamlet's opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed.

The following is an excerpt from the third scene in Act 4, right after Hamlet accidentally kills Claudius' spy Polonius:

CLAUDIUS
Now, Hamlet, where’s Polonius?

HAMLET
At Dinner

CLAUDIUS
At dinner where?

HAMLET
Not where he’s eating, but where he’s being eaten. A certain conference of worms is chowing down on him. Worms are the emperor of all diets. We fatten up all creatures to feed ourselves, and we fatten ourselves for the worms to eat when we’re dead. A fat king and a skinny beggar are just two dishes at the same meal. That’s all I have to say.

CLAUDIUS
Alas, alas!

HAMLET
A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

CLAUDIUS
What dost you mean by this?

HAMLET
Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.

Reality and “The Emperor of Ice Cream” - Analysis by Ryan P. Young

If you find “The Emperor of Ice Cream” by Wallace Stevens, the poem which I will be discussing in this post, excessively oblique, check out Helen Vendler’s quick analysis here, where she offers a strong reading of the poem’s narrative content. I think her story is right, but while Vendler reads the poem as primarily a triumph of life over death, I argue that Stevens is after something a bit more subtle and metaphysical. As in “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction”, Stevens here seems preoccupied with ontology; instead of working in a moral mode asserting the primacy of life, Stevens posits an almost Lacanian account of the construction of a distant, transcendent Life (with the capital ‘L’). The poem, then, becomes about the negotiations between the living subjects and the distant Living Other, the mechanism of which is buried in the syntactically and semantically thick line “Let be be finale of seem.”

I had always been tempted to read “finale” in that line to mean something like “apotheosis” or “triumph”, an evaluative claim asserting the superiority of being to seeming. However, through discussions with David and closer reading of this poem and “Notes…”, I’ve come to believe that the thrust of the word is causative– being is the “finale” of seem because it comes from seeming; seeming, then, is a creative force, capable of constructing a metaphysical object that exists in a strong sense. Specifically, the living, by acting (or “seeming”) life, creates the Other/Platonic Ideal/Transcendental “Life.” I hesitate to offer any deeply theoretical reading as I’m away from my library, but hopefully I can sketch out a general account of the poem with a sufficiently Lacanian inflection to suggest further, more rigorous work.

In what sense are the persons in the first stanza merely “seeming” life? The room of the living, in the first stanza, is set against the room of the dead woman in the second stanza (a structure that employs a punning etymological efficiency), and the living are calling, whipping, dawdling, and bringing in preparation for the viewing. Clearly, this bustling vitality is a response to death– a sort of compensation– but Stevens suggests something inauthentic about the activity, mocking the actors, imbuing the activity with a strange, ironic sexuality. Sex is, perhaps, the central activity of life and living. But the sexuality here is mocking, teasing: the curds are “concupiscent”, the girls are “wenches” who stand around dress appropriate to wenches, presumably displaying their sexuality, and thus performing their vitality. While Vendler reads this sexualization as connoting disgust on behalf of the speaker, I think it’s better read as a represention of an incomplete, confused drive to Life, which, ultimately, is funny. The “gaudiness” of Steven’s verse (as he called it) and the unexpected sexuality colors the scene with a comic brush. The word “dawdle” alone suggests the speaker views the people with something other than contempt; it would take an especially melancholic soul to find no humor in a poem whose eponymous figure is an emperor of ice-cream. The final result is farcical– and farce itself suggests a distance between the acted roles and actually being those roles. The figures in the first room are only acting, “seeming” life, engaged in the performance of bustle and sexuality, which indicate life.

We come then, in the poem, to Stevens’s commentary on all this acting, on the living who are merely playing at being alive in response to the death in the next room. He does not argue that the bustle is useless, but instead that Living/Life/being is the finale of all this seeming. After all, there is no grand emperor that existed before we had been playing. The emperor only exists inasmuch as he is the emperor of ice-cream, a play-emperor, humorously lacking the station of the Emperor-ideal. As it stands, we can understand this couplet in terms of Hume’s projectivism: despite the inherent irreality of Life (with all the transcendent connotations that arise from the capital letter), we nevertheless see the world with Life and Ethics and all the rest in it, granting them a certain ontological status less weighty than, say, rocks, but more than unicorns. This would be a fine line of analysis, but the methodologies and motivations for acting, and the odd promotion of a projected, acted seeming to a powerful Being, seems most susceptible to Lacan’s various reals and the role of the Other. I leave the specifics of this relationship as an exercise for the reader, or else, as an exercise for myself when I have my books in front of me. Nevertheless, the creation of an identity (life) in response to a lack as reflected through a created, whole other (Life) appears to be the process this poem describes.

The second stanza replicates the techniques of the first, mocking the image of death, then providing an oblique philosophical statement that culminates in the conclusion that “the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.” This stanza seems to create Death out of a comic death in much the same way the first creates Life out of a comic life. I’ll refrain from giving a close reading of that stanza, and instead suggest David’s accounts of similarities of a theory of performance in Genet and Stevens, and especially future writing on The Balcony. For my part, I hope this essay first offers a way of reading Stevens that is amenable to Lacanian terminology and conceptions of lack in the subject as against The Other, especially Zizek’s insight that, given the Lacanian ego-ideal, the subject herself reads the Others’ reading of herself, and the perpetuation of ideology is primarily through action. But, more importantly, perhaps, I hope this reading further demonstrates that Stevens is preoccupied with ontology and performance, especially in his greatest poems, and future work on Stevens-as-philosopher can be intellectually fertile.

Ryan P. Young

Sources:

Stevens, Wallace, “The Emporer of Ice Cream,” 1923, library

Vendler, Helen, “On The Emporer of Ice Cream,” 1993, e-text

Here is a beautiful prose poem by Mary Oliver. Below the poem I share my thoughts.

Don’t Hesitate
- Mary Oliver

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Hope Always Persists

No matter how difficult or challenging the situation may be, hope always persists. Hope is an essential component of the human experience that allows us to keep moving forward and strive for better things, even in the face of adversity. It provides a sense of optimism and possibility, and helps us maintain a positive outlook even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. It is a powerful force that can sustain us in tough times and give us the strength to persevere. No matter what obstacles you may be facing, remember that hope lives on and can help you find a way forward.

Joy Enhances Living

Experiencing joy and positive emotions can greatly enhance your life and allow you to live a more fulfilling existence. When you are joyful, you tend to be more optimistic, grateful, and present in the moment, which can lead to deeper connections with others and a greater appreciation for life's experiences. Research has also shown that people who experience positive emotions on a regular basis tend to have better physical and mental health, as well as a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life. By prioritizing joy and cultivating it in your daily life, you can create a more rich and satisfying existence for yourself and those around you.

Embrace Joy

If you are feeling joyful, it is important not to hold back or hesitate to express or enjoy that emotion. Joy is a positive and uplifting feeling that can bring happiness and positivity to yourself and those around you. By embracing and experiencing joy, you can improve your well-being and quality of life. Don't let fear, insecurity, or other external factors stop you from fully experiencing joy and all the benefits it can bring. Instead, embrace it and allow yourself to feel fully happy and content in the moment.

Don't Hesitate to Celebrate

It is important to take time to celebrate and acknowledge your achievements, big or small, as well as the special moments in life. Celebrating can bring joy and positivity into your life and help you to appreciate your successes and the good things that happen to you. Additionally, celebrating with others can strengthen relationships, create shared memories, and build a sense of community.

Life can be unpredictable and challenging, and it is essential to take a moment to recognize and celebrate your accomplishments and milestones, as well as the simple joys in life. Don't let fear, insecurity, or other external factors hold you back from celebrating. Embrace the opportunity to express gratitude, share your joy with others, and create positive memories that will last a lifetime. Celebrate at all times and make the most of every moment.

Don't Hesitate from What is Right - Guru Gobind Singh

This reminds me of Guru Gobind Singh poem Deh Shiva in which he says, "Let me not hesitate from doing whats right." Similar message: Fight. Don't fear. Don't hesitate. Remember oneness; be kind.

O Shiva ... give me this boon,

To never shirk from doing right
To never fear when I go to fight
to ever have the confidence to win

Let my heart learn
through ordeals of life
to have the desire
to remember your name
incessantly

And when the time has come
let me die bravely in the battlefield

- Guru Gobind Singh (tr. by Shivpreet Singh)

Welcome Morning by Anne Sexton

Welcome Morning
- Anne Sexton

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry “hello there, Anne”
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn’t shared, I’ve heard,
dies young.

Ruminating on Welcome Morning

The simplicity, joy and piercing of Welcome Morning by Anne Sexton is breathtaking. She starts by saying: "There is joy in all." And then she lists all the small things that give her joy. Somewhat akin the the evergreen song from the Sound of Muic: These are a few of my favorite things. She seems drugged with a magically joyful substance. I am reminded of Tera Kiya Meetha Lagai by Guru Arjan: I desire that one substance that makes every happening sweet: Naam Padaarath, the substance of Naam.

One line that I really love in this poem is the last one: "The Joy that isn’t shared, I’ve heard, dies young." The poem is about gratitude for every small thing. Joy is why art manifests. In successive lines of the poem she imprints a "thank you" on her mind.

She explains why the poet writes a poem. Joy is why a poet writes a poem. Joy is why a singer sings a song. If the joy is not shared it has the danger of dying young. The more beautiful the song, and the more it is shared, and the deeper it goes in every vessel, the longer it lives. The beauty of these words is in their truth.

The phrase "chapel of eggs" is interesting. Perhaps it implies a mountain of eggs that she eats, perhaps it is holy. Perhaps it is a symbol of genesis, a new beginning from zero, consistent with the morning and hopeful imagery of the poem. Perhaps it refers to something that houses life and provides for life. The repetition of morning is interesting in this poem. It seems a meditation for the morning, sort of a gratefulness charging up at the beginning of the day.

Because this is a hopeful poem of the morning, it would be sung in raag asa if it were sung. This is much like Bhagat Namdev's poem about where all this joy is coming from: "All this is God." Here beethal, there beethal, no one without beethal says Bhagat Sant Namdev in Raag Asa.

Poet Roger Housden on this poem

What a glorious ode to the beauty of the everyday Anne Sexton gives us in this poem. I believe that the fact that it was written not long before her suicide in 1974 only adds to its power and poignancy. Sexton suffered from mental illness all her life and was not afraid to explore it and other intimately personal details in her poetry, which set the standard for the modern movement of confessional poetry that began at that time.

This poem shows how intimate Sexton could feel at times with the daily presentations, as Mary Oliver calls the little details of our life. Everything has a life of its own, even the hairbrush and the kettle and the chair we sit on for breakfast each morning. When we feel the life that pours through everything, then joy is the spontaneous and natural result, and we can sense that all this is God. In that moment of remembrance our life itself becomes a prayer of gratitude.

More on Anne Sexton

Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book Live or Die. Her poetry details her long battle with depression, suicidal tendencies, and intimate details from her private life, including relationships with her husband and children, whom it was later alleged she physically and sexually assaulted. More on Wikipedia

Today we need to pick ourselves up,
unruffle our feathers and renew our singing.
We need to soar into this winter knowing
that a spring awaits around the corner.

We need to make new love songs
-- not the flaky and fake ones --
real bold silver pinions of equality
that wave over our heads.

We need to perch on all her branches
to keep spilling their essence
until we have infected all the rest
and can hear America singing again.

- Shivpreet Singh

More Songs of American Renewal

1. Long, too long America - Walt Whitman (written after Civil War)

Long, too long America,
Traveling roads all even and peaceful you learn'd from joys and prosperity only,
But now, ah now, to learn from crises of anguish, advancing, grappling with direst fate and recoiling not,
And now to conceive and show to the world what your children en-masse really are,
(For who except myself has yet conceiv'd what your children en-masse really are?)

2. Hope - Emily Brontë

Hope

Hope was but a timid friend;
She sat without the grated den,
Watching how my fate would tend,
Even as selfish-hearted men.

She was cruel in her fear;
Through the bars one dreary day,
I looked out to see her there,
And she turned her face away!

Like a false guard, false watch keeping,
Still, in strife, she whispered peace;
She would sing while I was weeping;
If I listened, she would cease.

False she was, and unrelenting;
When my last joys strewed the ground,
Even Sorrow saw, repenting,
Those sad relics scattered round;

Hope, whose whisper would have given
Balm to all my frenzied pain,
Stretched her wings, and soared to heaven,
Went, and ne’er returned again!

3. To Hope - John Keats

To Hope

When by my solitary hearth I sit,
When no fair dreams before my ‘mind’s eye’ flit,
And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o’er my head.

Whene’er I wander, at the fall of night,
Where woven boughs shut out the moon’s bright ray,
Should sad Despondency my musings fright,
And frown, to drive fair Cheerfulness away,
Peep with the moon-beams through the leafy roof,
And keep that fiend Despondence far aloof.

Should Disappointment, parent of Despair,
Strive for her son to seize my careless heart;
When, like a cloud, he sits upon the air,
Preparing on his spell-bound prey to dart:
Chase him away, sweet Hope, with visage bright,
And fright him as the morning frightens night!

Whene’er the fate of those I hold most dear
Tells to my fearful breast a tale of sorrow,
O bright-eyed Hope, my morbid fancy cheer;
Let me awhile thy sweetest comforts borrow:
Thy heaven-born radiance around me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o’er my head!

4. Grace - Jo Harjo

Grace

Joy Harjo

Grace

- for Darlene Wind and James Welch

I think of Wind and her wild ways the year we had nothing to lose and lost it anyway in the cursed country of the fox. We still talk about that winter, how the cold froze imaginary buffalo on the stuffed horizon of snowbanks. The haunting voices of the starved and mutilated broke fences, crashed our thermostat dreams, and we couldn’t stand it one more time. So once again we lost a winter in stubborn memory, walked through cheap apartment walls, skated through fields of ghosts into a town that never wanted us, in the epic search for grace.

Like Coyote, like Rabbit, we could not contain our terror and clowned our way through a season of false midnights. We had to swallow that town with laughter, so it would go down easy as honey. And one morning as the sun struggled to break ice, and our dreams had found us with coffee and pancakes in a truck stop along Highway 80, we found grace.

I could say grace was a woman with time on her hands, or a white buffalo escaped from memory. But in that dingy light it was a promise of balance. We once again understood the talk of animals, and spring was lean and hungry with the hope of children and corn.

I would like to say, with grace, we picked ourselves up and walked into the spring thaw. We didn’t; the next season was worse. You went home to Leech Lake to work with the tribe and I went south. And, Wind, I am still crazy. I know there is something larger than the memory of a dispossessed people. We have seen it.

5. “Hope” is the thing with feathers - Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

6. From The Cure of Troy - Seamus Heaney

This is from Seamus Heaney'a poetic drama The Cure at Troy, a version of a play by the Greek dramatist Sophocles (fifth century BCE), and addresses questions of personal morality, deceit and political expediency, suffering and healing.

Human beings suffer.
They torture one another.
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.

History says, don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracle
And cures and healing wells.

Call miracle self-healing:
The utter, self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there’s fire on the mountain
Or lightning and storm
And a god speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
of new life at its term.
It means once in a lifetime
That justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

7. I too - Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

Happy Spring! I have composed this shabad in Raag Basant as part of the Bhagat Namdev 750 project. There is a live recording and a studio recording; I just released two versions of the live recording: YouTube and Instagram. Below the recordings you will find the lyrics, meanings, translations as well as some related shabads and poems.

Here is Bhai Harjinder Singh's popular composition of the shabad:

Essence of the Shabad - Teri Bhagat Na Chhodon

The shabad is a lesson in giving up. It is about loving like the lotus: against all odds. Bhagat Namdev sings in Raag Basant, "I will not stop loving you even if people laugh at me. The one who leave their master in need, leave their honor. People love wealth and would even die for it. But the lovers of truth, love your name and give up their own existence. Bathing in the Ganges and Godavari is for the people of the world. For me, the service of hari is above all. I will not stop loving you even if people laugh at me." Teri Bhagat Na Chhodon Bhave Log Hasai.

Reminds me of "Tyaagna Tyaagan Neeka, Kaam Krodh Lobh Moh Tyaagna"

Related Hindi Abhang and Guru Amar Das Shabad

Nov 2020: Today I was reading a Hindi abhang of Sant Namdev (Yaahi Govinda Charan - see below) and I found it similar to a shabad I have composed earlier: Teri Bhagat Na Chhodon (see below for lyrics, meaning and essence). When I compared the two, they were very similar. One was in Raag Sorath, the other in Raag Basant. I also found today a shabad by the Guru Amar Das (also in Raag basant - see end of this note) which uses very similar language.

Bhagat Namdev lived between 1270 and 1350 AD while Guru Amardas lived lived two hundred years later between 1479 and 1574 AD. Guru Arjan Dev compiled the first Adi Granth in 1604 AD and Guru Gobind completed the final Guru Granth Sahib in 1708 AD. There are other writings that I have discovered where Guru Nanak converses with Bhagat Namdev's through poetry. Thanks to Guru Nanak bhagat Namdev's bani was saved in pristine form for generations to come. It is amazing to find conversations happening between spiritual poets over centuries. Discovering these while encountering new poetry is one of my favorite pastimes. So many riddles to solve; so much joy to be had!

Bhagat Namdev in Gurbani - Teri Bhagat Na Chhodoon Bhaven Log Hasai

ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥

ੴ सतिगुर प्रसादि ॥

Ikoaŉkār saṯgur parsāḏ.

One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:

ਸਾਹਿਬੁ ਸੰਕਟਵੈ ਸੇਵਕੁ ਭਜੈ ॥

साहिबु संकटवै सेवकु भजै ॥

Sāhib sanktavai sevak bẖajai.

If the servant runs away when his master puts him in trouble,

ਚਿਰੰਕਾਲ ਨ ਜੀਵੈ ਦੋਊ ਕੁਲ ਲਜੈ ॥੧॥

चिरंकाल न जीवै दोऊ कुल लजै ॥१॥

Cẖirankāl na jīvai ḏoū kul lajai. ||1||

he will not have a long life, and he brings shame to all his family. ||1||

ਤੇਰੀ ਭਗਤਿ ਨ ਛੋਡਉ ਭਾਵੈ ਲੋਗੁ ਹਸੈ ॥

तेरी भगति न छोडउ भावै लोगु हसै ॥

Ŧerī bẖagaṯ na cẖẖodao bẖāvai log hasai.

I shall not abandon devotional worship of You, O Lord, even if the people laugh at me.

ਚਰਨ ਕਮਲ ਮੇਰੇ ਹੀਅਰੇ ਬਸੈਂ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥

चरन कमल मेरे हीअरे बसैं ॥१॥ रहाउ ॥

Cẖaran kamal mere hīare basaiŉ. ||1|| rahāo.

The Lord's Lotus Feet abide within my heart. ||1||Pause||

ਜੈਸੇ ਅਪਨੇ ਧਨਹਿ ਪ੍ਰਾਨੀ ਮਰਨੁ ਮਾਂਡੈ ॥

जैसे अपने धनहि प्रानी मरनु मांडै ॥

Jaise apne dẖanėh parānī maran māŉdai.

The mortal will even die for the sake of his wealth;

ਤੈਸੇ ਸੰਤ ਜਨਾਂ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮੁ ਨ ਛਾਡੈਂ ॥੨॥

तैसे संत जनां राम नामु न छाडैं ॥२॥

Ŧaise sanṯ janāŉ rām nām na cẖẖādaiŉ. ||2||

in the same way, the Saints do not forsake the Lord's Name. ||2||

ਗੰਗਾ ਗਇਆ ਗੋਦਾਵਰੀ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਕੇ ਕਾਮਾ ॥

गंगा गइआ गोदावरी संसार के कामा ॥

Gangā gaiā goḏāvrī sansār ke kāmā.

Pilgrimages to the Ganges, the Gaya and the Godawari are merely worldly affairs.

ਨਾਰਾਇਣੁ ਸੁਪ੍ਰਸੰਨ ਹੋਇ ਤ ਸੇਵਕੁ ਨਾਮਾ ॥੩॥੧॥

नाराइणु सुप्रसंन होइ त सेवकु नामा ॥३॥१॥

Nārāiṇ suparsan hoe ṯa sevak nāmā. ||3||1||

If the Lord were totally pleased, then He would let Naam Dayv be His servant. ||3||1||

Another one of my translations -

If the servant runs away when his master puts him in trouble,

He will not have a long life, and he brings shame to all his family. ||1||

I won't stop serving you even if people laugh at me.

The lotus feet abide within my heart. ||1||Pause||

Like the greedy man doesn't risk wealth for his own life

Saints do not forsake the Lord's Name for any reason. ||2||

Pilgrimages to the Ganges, the Gaya and the Godawari are merely worldly affairs.

If the Lord were totally pleased, then He would let Naam Dayv be His servant. ||3||1||

Bhagat Namdev in Hindi - Yaahi Govinda Charan Mero Jeevaro Basai Re

राग सोरठि

याही गोविंदा चरन मेरो जीवरौ बसै रे ।
भगति न छांडौं हरिकीं लोग हंसैरे ॥टेक॥

गोबिंदा कै नाइं लीयें भवजल तिरिए रे ।
झूठी माया लागि लागि काहे कूं मरीए रे ॥1॥

साइं कूं सांकडै दीये सेवग भाजै रे ।
चिरकाल न कोई जीवै दोऊ पष लाजै रे ॥2॥

आपनां धन कारणि प्राणी मरणौं मांडै रे ।
भगति भगता जन काहे कूं छांडै रे ॥3॥

गंगा गया गोदावरी संसारी जांमा रे ।
सुपरसन नाराइन सेवग नांमा रे ॥4॥

Teri Bhagat Na Chhodon - Guru Amar Das

ਬਸੰਤੁ ਮਹਲਾ ੩ ਇਕ ਤੁਕਾ ॥

बसंतु महला ३ इक तुका ॥

Basanṯ mėhlā 3 ik ṯukā.

Basant, Third Mehl, Ik-Tukas:

ਸਾਹਿਬ ਭਾਵੈ ਸੇਵਕੁ ਸੇਵਾ ਕਰੈ ॥

साहिब भावै सेवकु सेवा करै ॥

Sāhib bẖāvai sevak sevā karai.

When it pleases our Lord and Master, His servant serves Him.

ਜੀਵਤੁ ਮਰੈ ਸਭਿ ਕੁਲ ਉਧਰੈ ॥੧॥

जीवतु मरै सभि कुल उधरै ॥१॥

Jīvaṯ marai sabẖ kul uḏẖrai. ||1||

He remains dead while yet alive, and redeems all his ancestors. ||1||

ਤੇਰੀ ਭਗਤਿ ਨ ਛੋਡਉ ਕਿਆ ਕੋ ਹਸੈ ॥

तेरी भगति न छोडउ किआ को हसै ॥

Ŧerī bẖagaṯ na cẖẖodao kiā ko hasai.

I shall not renounce Your devotional worship, O Lord; what does it matter if people laugh at me?

ਸਾਚੁ ਨਾਮੁ ਮੇਰੈ ਹਿਰਦੈ ਵਸੈ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥

साचु नामु मेरै हिरदै वसै ॥१॥ रहाउ ॥

Sācẖ nām merai hirḏai vasai. ||1|| rahā▫o.

The True Name abides within my heart. ||1||Pause||

ਜੈਸੇ ਮਾਇਆ ਮੋਹਿ ਪ੍ਰਾਣੀ ਗਲਤੁ ਰਹੈ ॥

जैसे माइआ मोहि प्राणी गलतु रहै ॥

Jaise māiā mohi parāṇī galaṯ rahai.

Just as the mortal remains engrossed in attachment to Maya,

ਤੈਸੇ ਸੰਤ ਜਨ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਰਵਤ ਰਹੈ ॥੨॥

तैसे संत जन राम नाम रवत रहै ॥२॥

Ŧaise sanṯ jan rām nām ravaṯ rahai. ||2||

so does the Lord's humble Saint remain absorbed in the Lord's Name. ||2||

ਮੈ ਮੂਰਖ ਮੁਗਧ ਊਪਰਿ ਕਰਹੁ ਦਇਆ ॥

मै मूरख मुगध ऊपरि करहु दइआ ॥

Mai mūrakẖ mugaḏẖ ūpar karahu ḏaiā.

I am foolish and ignorant, O Lord; please be merciful to me.

ਤਉ ਸਰਣਾਗਤਿ ਰਹਉ ਪਇਆ ॥੩॥

तउ सरणागति रहउ पइआ ॥३॥

Ŧao sarṇāgaṯ rahao paiā. ||3||

May I remain in Your Sanctuary. ||3||

ਕਹਤੁ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਕੇ ਨਿਹਫਲ ਕਾਮਾ ॥

कहतु नानकु संसार के निहफल कामा ॥

Kahaṯ Nānak sansār ke nihfal kāmā.

Says Nanak, worldly affairs are fruitless.

ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ਕੋ ਪਾਵੈ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਨਾਮਾ ॥੪॥੮॥

गुर प्रसादि को पावै अम्रित नामा ॥४॥८॥

Gur parsāḏ ko pāvai amriṯ nāmā. ||4||8||

Only by Guru's Grace does one receive the Nectar of the Naam, the Name of the Lord. ||4||8||

Haj Hamari Gomti Teer - Kabir

ਆਸਾ ॥

आसा ॥

Āsā.

Aasaa:

ਹਜ ਹਮਾਰੀ ਗੋਮਤੀ ਤੀਰ ॥

हज हमारी गोमती तीर ॥

Haj hamārī gomṯī ṯīr.

My pilgrimage to Mecca is on the banks of the Gomati River;

ਜਹਾ ਬਸਹਿ ਪੀਤੰਬਰ ਪੀਰ ॥੧॥

जहा बसहि पीत्मबर पीर ॥१॥

Jahā basėh pīṯambar pīr. ||1||

the spiritual teacher in his yellow robes dwells there. ||1||

ਵਾਹੁ ਵਾਹੁ ਕਿਆ ਖੂਬੁ ਗਾਵਤਾ ਹੈ ॥

वाहु वाहु किआ खूबु गावता है ॥

vāhu vāhu kiā kẖūb gāvṯā hai.

Waaho! Waaho! Hail! Hail! How wondrously he sings.

Additional Links

Namdev 750 - Project celebrating 750th birth centenary of Bhagat Sant Namdev

Bhagat Sant Namdev - All posts related to Bhagat Sant Namdev in this blog

Raag Asa or Gauri - depending on the listener

Lyrics in English and Hindi

Translation - Wedding of Kabir

On Shubha Mudgal

So Kyon Visre - Lyrics and Translation

Detailed Explanation in Punjabi by Prof. Sahib Singh (See below for Hindi)

Detailed Explanation in Hindi by Prof. Sahib Singh

Punjabi Translation by Professor Sahib Singh

Hindi Translation by Professor Sahib Singh

Quote from Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

More context on this quote:

Reminds me of Satnam Meditation ... Meditation on the "The True Name"

More on The Brothers Karamazov

The Emperor of Ice-Cream

My Take on Wallace Steven's The Emperor of Ice-Cream

Emperor Reference from Hamlet

Reality and “The Emperor of Ice Cream” - Analysis by Ryan P. Young

Hope Always Persists

Joy Enhances Living

Embrace Joy

Don't Hesitate to Celebrate

Don't Hesitate from What is Right - Guru Gobind Singh

Welcome Morning by Anne Sexton

Ruminating on Welcome Morning

Poet Roger Housden on this poem

More on Anne Sexton

Waseem Barelvi Ghazal - Mili Hawaon Mein

Essence of the Shabad - Teri Bhagat Na Chhodon

Related Hindi Abhang and Guru Amar Das Shabad

Bhagat Namdev in Gurbani - Teri Bhagat Na Chhodoon Bhaven Log Hasai

Bhagat Namdev in Hindi - Yaahi Govinda Charan Mero Jeevaro Basai Re

Teri Bhagat Na Chhodon - Guru Amar Das

Haj Hamari Gomti Teer - Kabir

Additional Links

SHIVPREET SINGH

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