ਸਲੋਕੁ ਮਃ ੫ ॥
salok mehlaa 5.
Shalok, Fifth Mehl:
ਉਦਮੁ ਕਰੇਦਿਆ ਜੀਉ ਤੂੰ ਕਮਾਵਦਿਆ ਸੁਖ ਭੁੰਚੁ ॥
udam karaydi-aa jee-o tooN kamaavdi-aa sukh bhunch.
Make the effort, and you shall live; practicing it, you shall enjoy peace.
ਧਿਆਇਦਿਆ ਤੂੰ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਮਿਲੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਉਤਰੀ ਚਿੰਤ ॥੧॥
Dhi-aa-idi-aa tooN parabhoo mil naanak utree chint. ||1||
Meditating, you shall meet God, O Nanak, and your anxiety shall vanish. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Make the effort, and you shall live; keep at it, and you'll know peace.
Remembering, you meet the One, Nanak says, and your anxiety vanishes.
Grace is primary, but it doesn't cancel your part — make the effort, keep at it, and the peace is given.
A short, encouraging Shalok that balances the Vaar's grace-emphasis with a call to effort: "Make the effort, and you shall live." Grace is primary, but it does not cancel our part — we are to try, to practice, to keep at it. The two are not rivals: you make the effort, and the meeting and the peace are given. Anxiety vanishes not in passivity but in the practiced remembering that grace crowns.
A Question to Sit With
Where might you be waiting passively when you're actually invited to make the effort — trusting it will be met?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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