What You Chase Outside Was Inside All Along

ਸਲੋਕੁ ਮਃ ੫ ॥

salok mehlaa 5.

Shalok, Fifth Mehl:

ਜਾ ਤੂੰ ਤੁਸਹਿ ਮਿਹਰਵਾਨ ਅਚਿੰਤੁ ਵਸਹਿ ਮਨ ਮਾਹਿ ॥

jaa too^N tuseh miharvaan achint vaseh man maahi.

When You are pleased, O Merciful Lord, you automatically come to dwell within my mind.

ਜਾ ਤੂੰ ਤੁਸਹਿ ਮਿਹਰਵਾਨ ਨਉ ਨਿਧਿ ਘਰ ਮਹਿ ਪਾਹਿ ॥

jaa too^N tuseh miharvaan na-o niDh ghar meh paahi.

When You are pleased, O Merciful Lord, I find the nine treasures within the home of my own self.

ਜਾ ਤੂੰ ਤੁਸਹਿ ਮਿਹਰਵਾਨ ਤਾ ਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਮੰਤ੍ਰੁ ਕਮਾਹਿ ॥

jaa too^N tuseh miharvaan taa gur kaa mantar kamaahi.

When You are pleased, O Merciful Lord, I act according to the Guru's Instructions.

ਜਾ ਤੂੰ ਤੁਸਹਿ ਮਿਹਰਵਾਨ ਤਾ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਚਿ ਸਮਾਹਿ ॥੧॥

jaa too^N tuseh miharvaan taa naanak sach samaahi. ||1||

When You are pleased, O Merciful Lord, then Nanak is absorbed in the True One. ||1||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

When You are pleased, merciful One, You simply come and live in my mind.

When You are pleased, I find all nine treasures right inside my own self. When You are pleased, I follow the teaching. When You are pleased, Nanak is absorbed in the True One.

What you chase outside was inside all along — grace simply opens your eyes to the treasure already at home.

The deeper layer

This Shalok is built on the refrain "When You are pleased" — everything good flows from the One's pleasure, not our leverage. Note the second line: the nine treasures found "within the home of my own self." What we chase outside was inside all along; grace simply opens the eyes to see it. The whole verse dissolves striving into receptivity — when the One is pleased, the good arrives on its own.

A Question to Sit With

What might you be searching for 'out there' that grace could reveal was inside you the whole time?

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

About this shabad →

← Verse 3 of 63 Where the Mystery Outruns You, Bow and Trust

Verse 5 of 63 →The Only Dignity That Can't Be Stripped Away

Use ← → to navigate