Sit Down Inside Yourself and the Ego Washes Away

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

Stop running, sit down inside yourself, and look there. The ego washes away, and there He is.

Gur parsaadee sachaa har paa-ay — by the Guru's grace, the True One is found. Everything begins with this gift.

Man tan vaykhai ha-umai mail jaa-ay — look for Him within your mind and body, and the mail (dirt) of ha-umai (ego) goes away. After the lesson about not searching outside, here is the simple instruction. Turn your eyes inward. Look in the cave of your own mind and body. The One is there.

And notice what happens while you look. The dirt of ego washes off. Why? Searching outside feeds the ego. It wants to win, to get, to be the one who found it. But turning quietly inward lets all that grabbing settle down. Looking inside is itself a way of letting the ego go.

The loveliest words are bais suthaan — sitting in the good place. This good place is the true home inside, the cave of the heart where the One lives. It is also a feeling of being settled and at rest. In the last verse, the seeker ran everywhere doing hard work that earned nothing. Here is the opposite. Sitting down. Coming to rest.

Think of coming home after a long, tiring day and finally sinking into your favorite chair. There is deep relief in that one word, "sit." The journey is over. You can rest now.

From that restful seat, two things flow. Sad har gun gaavai — you sing the One's praises forever. It pours out naturally from a heart that has found its home. Sachai sabad samaavani-aa — you melt into the true Word. The singing and the melting come because you stopped chasing and started sitting in the inner place.

So the whole path is here. Grace helps you find Him. You look inside, not outside. The dirt of ego washes off. You settle into the beautiful inner home. And from there you sing, and melt into the Word. All the rushing turns into something simple and still: sit down inside yourself, and there He is.