ਸਲੋਕ ਮਃ ੫ ॥
salok mehlaa 5.
Shalok, Fifth Mehl:
ਮਨ ਮਹਿ ਚਿਤਵਉ ਚਿਤਵਨੀ ਉਦਮੁ ਕਰਉ ਉਠਿ ਨੀਤ ॥
man meh chitva-o chitvanee udam kara-o uth neet.
Within my mind, I think thoughts of always rising early, and making the effort.
ਹਰਿ ਕੀਰਤਨ ਕਾ ਆਹਰੋ ਹਰਿ ਦੇਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਕੇ ਮੀਤ ॥੧॥
har keertan kaa aahro har dayh naanak kay meet. ||1||
O Lord, my Friend, please bless Nanak with the habit of singing the Kirtan of the Lord's Praises. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
In my mind I keep meaning to rise early and make the effort.
Friend, bless Nanak with the habit of singing Your praises.
We all keep intending to do the good — and the honest prayer is for the habit, since intention alone never quite becomes practice.
A charmingly human Shalok: the speaker keeps intending to rise early and do the work — and asks for the one thing intention alone can't supply, the habit: "bless Nanak with the habit of singing the Kirtan." Even good discipline is asked for as grace, because we know how far intention falls short of practice. To pray for a habit is to admit we cannot install our own consistency by willpower.
A Question to Sit With
What do you keep intending to do? What would it look like to ask for the habit, not just resolve harder?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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