Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Chanting, quiet discipline, careful living, reading the old scriptures. Nanak says all of these are held inside one thing. That one thing is giving yourself over, and trusting the Limitless One.
Every good practice finds its home in trusting the One.
The closing line gathers them all: jap tap sanjam paath puraan. Jap is repeating the Name. Tap is hard discipline. Sanjam is self-control. Paath puraan is reading the old scriptures called the Puraanas.
Kaho naanak aprampar maan — says Nanak, all of these are held inside maan, giving yourself over to aprampar, the Limitless One.
Think of many rivers all flowing into one ocean. Each practice is a river, and trust is the ocean they flow into. The practices are not thrown away. They are made whole when they rest in trust. So the shabad is not against ritual. It is for the inner life.
What is one practice you do, and how could it become an act of trust rather than just a task?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI