Quote
ਵਾਹੁ ਵਾਹੁ ਕਿਆ ਖੂਬੁ ਗਾਵਤਾ ਹੈ ॥
Waaho! Waaho! Hail! Hail! How wondrously he sings.
ਹਰਿ ਕਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਮੇਰੈ ਮਨਿ ਭਾਵਤਾ ਹੈ ॥1॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
The Name of the Lord is pleasing to my mind. ||1||Pause||
Is the above translation in english correct??
If yes, then who is "He" ?
The doer of the verb ਗਾਵਤਾ is Mann (mind). In the first Pankiti, Bhagat jee says that Vaah Vaah, how beautifully it sings and in the next Pankiti it becomes clear that it is the Mann that is singing (praises) so beautifully because Naam is pleasing to it.
This gives rise to a Gurmat Principle. Such person to whom Naam is pleasing in the mann, will sing very Khoob (beautiful) Kirtan. In order to become Rass-Bhinnay (Rass drenching) Kirtani, along with the musical skill it is imperative that the Kirtani has a Naam Jeevan i.e. is a Naam Abhyaasi as well.
Many times when we hear Kirtan that is good in musical sense, we think that the such Kirtan is great. Sure, we ought to praise the musical or Sangeetak skill of a Kirtani but musical skill alone will not give Rass. Rass cannot be derived with musical skill alone. We may say that getting Hari Rass from Kirtan may be a big thing and everyone is not privileged to get Hari Rass from Kirtan but one sign of such Kirtan is that the Mind of the listener stands still (i.e. thoughts stop coming) and Naam starts within in full force. Along with this, a certain spell of Vismaad is cast over the listeners.
This mixture of Rass, stability of mind and Vismaad is most times absent from many big name Kirtani's Kirtan and surprisingly Kirtan from no-name innocent kids sometimes bring storm of such Rass. In the recent past, Bhai Jeevan Singh was one of the great Kirtanis whose Kirtan was very Rass-Bhinna. It's hard to find a Kirtani like Bhai Jeevan Singh jee. I greatly regret that when he was in his prime in the early 90s, I did not attend enough of his Kirtan Samagams. We took him for granted because he was always there in every Kirtan Samagam. We only realize the value of a person or a thing, when it is taken away from us.
May Guru Sahib bless us with such Kirtan Akhaaray where Vismaad of Kirtan mentioned in the above Pankitis showers in full force.
Kulbir Singh
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥