चिंगारी कोई भड़के, तो सावन उसे बुझाए

When you discover some good characteristic about a matter than you knew previously, there is a certain immense pleasure.

I first heard this song nearly four decades ago. Even though I liked the song, and even hummed it on occasion, I didn't know that it is in Raag Bhairavi; neither did I know it projected a certain sadness by invoking the ideas in proverbs such as the Fox Guarding the Hen house.

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There is a Kannada proverb with a similar import: ಬೇಲಿಯೇ ಎದ್ದು ಹೊಲ ಮೇಯ್ದರೆ

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आगे भी जाने न तू, पीछे भी जाने न तू

When you hear an instrumental of this song, as I did tonight, it seems to be more poignant in reaching you. It is true, isn't it, that you don't know what the future holds, and you don't quite know why certain things happened in the past? This song reminds you that all there really is, is the present. The song exhorts that listener "to seize the present to fulfill the wishes'.

A Bollywood version of Carpe diem.

सुमिरण कर ले मेरे मना

A moving rendering of the Guru Nanak composition by Pt. Jasraj. The Guru exhorts:

"Meditate on the Lord, Oh my mind,
Otherwise, your life will be over without the Lord's name."

The first video (1988) is a concert to present, along with Smt. M S Subbulakshmi, Mahatma Gandhi's favorites. This particular number starts at 10:15 in the video.

There is another rendering (2004) Pt. Jasraj has provided along with Kavita Krishnamurthy and Dr. L. Subramanian.