All the cleverness of my mind is gone.

ਮਨ ਸਗਲ ਸਿਆਨਪ ਰਹੀ ॥

man sagal siaanap rahee ||

ਕਰਨ ਕਰਾਵਨਹਾਰ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਨਾਨਕ ਓਟ ਗਹੀ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥

karan karaavanahaar suaamee naanak oT gahee ||1|| rahaau ||

The Lord and Master is the Doer, the Cause of causes; Nanak holds tight to His Support. ||1||Pause||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

All the cleverness of my mind is gone.

The One is the Doer, the cause behind all causes; Nanak holds tight to that support.

Letting go of the need to be clever and figure everything out isn't a loss — it's a relief, because you can finally rest on something bigger than your own planning.

The deeper layer

"All my cleverness is gone" sounds like a loss, but Guru Arjan means it as liberation. Chaturaaee — cleverness, the mind's endless scheming to manage and control — is exhausting, and it rests on the illusion that you are the one running things. When it drops, what remains is trust: the One is "the cause behind all causes." This is the deep restfulness of Hukam again. The clever mind is always calculating angles; the trusting mind holds one support and lets the calculating go. There is more peace in "I don't have to figure it all out" than in any amount of figuring.

A Question to Sit With

When has trying to be clever and control everything worn you out? What would trusting instead feel like?

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI

About this shabad →

← Shabad 12 · Verse 3 Dear God, by Your Grace, my doubts have been dispelled.

Verse 2 of 3 →All the cleverness of my mind is gone.

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