Kaur was also active in social and environmental causes while in high school, serving as president of the Social Action Club, which started a campus recycling program and organized environmenal awareness programs. The Club also led the effort to change the school mascot and sports team names from the Indians to the Red Tailed Hawk in 1990 and 1991.
After graduating from Tam, Kaur attended Mills College in Oakland, California, receiving a bachelors degree in biochemistry. She then returned to India, to study kirtan under her mother's teacher, Bhai Hari Singh. She lived near the Golden Temple. In 1997, Kaur began a career as a food technologist with Peace Cereals in Eugene, Oregon.
A Sikh and Kundalini Yoga teacher, Snatam Kaur is a singer and musician, gaining a growing fame in the world of spiritual music.
After a few years as the singer of the spiritual music group The Peace Family, she started a solo career. Her music mixes western melodies with Indian sounds, mantras from the Kundalini yoga tradition, words of Harbhajan Singh Yogi and personal lyrics.
She often tours in the United States and Canada, and within Sikh communities worldwide (India, Singapore) among which she is more and more renowned as a talented kirtan singer.
Spiritual music artists such as Deva Premal now sing her compositions.
Azure Salver
Snatam Kaur Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The sun and moon are thy lamps,
The stars are thy scattered pearls,
The sandal forests are thy incense,
And the breeze is thy fan.
These, along with the flowers of vegetation
Are laid as offerings at thy feet(1)
O Destroyer of Fear,
To nature's own festival of lights,
While the divine music resounds within?
-pause-
Thousand are thine eyes, yet thou hast no eyes;
Thousand are thy forms, yet thou hast no form;
Thousand are thy lotus feet, and yet thou hast no feet;
Thousand are thy noses to smell, yet thou hast no nose.
I am enchanted with thy play.(2)
It is the light which lives in every heart,
And thy light which illumines every soul.
It is only through the Guru's teachings
That the light comes to be shown.
Whatever is pleasing to thee,
That is the true worship.(3)
My soul yearns for the honey of Thy lotus feet.
Night and day I am athirst for thee.
I am like that bird who cries, "Peeoo, Peeoo,"
Waiting to receive the drop of water
Which is the nectar of Thy kindness,
So that I may live in the ecstasy of Thy Name.(4)
The song Azure Salver by Snatam Kaur is a beautiful tribute to the divine in nature. In the first verse, Kaur uses rich imagery to describe how the sky is like a serving dish for the divine. The sun and moon are like lamps, the stars are like pearls, the sandal forests are like incense, and the breeze is like a fan. All of these natural elements are offered up as worship to the divine. Kaur then asks the Destroyer of Fear what other worship can compare to nature's own festival of lights, where divine music resounds.
The second verse is a meditation on the divine's formlessness. Kaur states that although the divine has thousands of eyes, forms, and noses, it has none of these things. This is a powerful reminder that the divine is beyond human comprehension and cannot be contained in any single form. Kaur then expresses her enchantment with the divine's play, suggesting that the divine's mysteries are a source of great joy and wonder.
In the final verse, Kaur expresses her yearning for the divine. She compares herself to a bird crying out for water, waiting for a drop of the divine's kindness to sustain her. Kaur suggests that the key to true worship is to do what is pleasing to the divine, and that the light which illuminates every soul can only be revealed through the Guru's teachings.
Overall, Azure Salver is a beautiful and deeply spiritual song, which celebrates the divine in all of its forms and encourages us to seek the divine in nature and through the teachings of the Guru.
Line by Line Meaning
The sky is the azure salver,
The sky is like a bowl that holds a beautifully bright blue of the heavens.
The sun and moon are thy lamps,
The sun and moon are the sources of light that guide and illuminate everything.
The stars are thy scattered pearls,
The stars are like precious pearls arranged in the sky, forming an exquisite sight.
The sandal forests are thy incense,
The sandal forests produce fragrant incense that fills the air and adds to the enchanted feeling.
And the breeze is thy fan.
The gentle breeze is like a cool fan that soothes and refreshes everything.
These, along with the flowers of vegetation
Are laid as offerings at thy feet(1)
All these natural elements, including forests, flowers, and fragrances, are presented to show respect and gratitude.
O Destroyer of Fear,
What other worship can be compared
To nature's own festival of lights,
While the divine music resounds within?
Nothing can equal the grandness and beauty of nature's offering for worship. Everything sings and dances in unison with the divine music.
Thousand are thine eyes, yet thou hast no eyes;
Thousand are thy forms, yet thou hast no form;
Thousand are thy lotus feet, and yet thou hast no feet;
Thousand are thy noses to smell, yet thou hast no nose.
I am enchanted with thy play.(2)
The divine is beyond our senses, yet it manifests in a million different ways, all of which are enchanting and captivating.
It is the light which lives in every heart,
And thy light which illumines every soul.
It is only through the Guru's teachings
That the light comes to be shown.
The true light exists within each one of us, but it is only through the teachings of the Guru that the light becomes clear and bright.
Whatever is pleasing to thee,
That is the true worship.(3)
True worship means doing things that please the divine and bring us closer to the divine, regardless of our personal preferences.
My soul yearns for the honey of Thy lotus feet.
Night and day I am athirst for thee.
I am like that bird who cries, "Peeoo, Peeoo,"
Waiting to receive the drop of water
Which is the nectar of Thy kindness,
So that I may live in the ecstasy of Thy Name.(4)
My soul craves the divine love and feeling of being near the divine. Like a thirsty bird yearning for the drop of water, I eagerly wait for the divine's nectar of kindness to achieve the ecstasy of the divine's name.
Contributed by Addison N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.