ਮਨ ਕਰਹਲਾ ਗੁਰ ਗੋਵਿੰਦੁ ਸਮਾਲਿ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
man karhalaa gur govind samaal. ||1|| rahaa-o.
O camel-like mind, dwell upon the Guru and the Lord of the Universe. ||1||Pause||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O my wandering mind, hold the teaching and the One who fills everything. Keep them close. Let that be the thing you return to, over and over.
The one thing worth returning to, again and again, is the teaching and the One it points to.
This single line is the Rahao -- the pause, the refrain, the heart of the shabad that every other verse circles back to. Gur govind samaal: cherish, hold, keep-in-mind the Guru and Govind (a name for the divine, "Cherisher of the world"). Samaal is a warm word -- to look after something the way you look after someone you love. The whole camel-set is really an expansion of this one instruction: instead of chasing, hold.
A Question to Sit With
What is the thought you would want to come home to whenever your mind starts racing?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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