ਰਾਮਕਲੀ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥
raamkalee mehlaa 1.
Raamkalee, First Mehl:
ਹਠੁ ਨਿਗ੍ਰਹੁ ਕਰਿ ਕਾਇਆ ਛੀਜੈ ॥
hath nigarahu kar kaa-i-aa chheejai.
Practicing restraint by Hatha Yoga, the body wears away.
ਵਰਤੁ ਤਪਨੁ ਕਰਿ ਮਨੁ ਨਹੀ ਭੀਜੈ ॥
varat tapan kar man nahee bheejai.
The mind is not softened by fasting or austerities.
ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਸਰਿ ਅਵਰੁ ਨ ਪੂਜੈ ॥੧॥
raam naam sar avar na poojai. ||1||
Nothing else is equal to worship of the Lord's Name. ||1||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Forcing the body with hard yoga only wears the body thin.
Keeping fasts and hard trials does not soften the mind.
Nothing equals the worship of the Naam of the One.
Straining the body cannot do what holding the Naam inside can do.
Nothing equals the Naam held within, not even the hardest training of the body.
Hath nigrahu is Hatha Yoga, forceful discipline of the body. The yogis of the time worked very hard at it. Their effort is not mocked; it is pointed somewhere new. The body wearing away, kaa-i-aa chheejai, is not the goal. Raam naam sar avar na poojai means nothing weighs the same as the Naam.
A Question to Sit With
When have you tried to force something that only came when you stopped straining?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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