Sikhism·Raag Raamkalee·Shabad 90
Verse 1 of 26

The Heart as a Monastery

ਰਾਮਕਲੀ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥
raamkalee mehlaa 1.
Raamkalee, First Mehl:
ਅਉਹਠਿ ਹਸਤ ਮੜੀ ਘਰੁ ਛਾਇਆ ਧਰਣਿ ਗਗਨ ਕਲ ਧਾਰੀ ॥੧॥
a-uhath hasat marhee ghar chhaa-i-aa Dharan gagan kal Dhaaree. ||1||
He has made His home in the monastery of the heart; He has infused His power into the earth and the sky. ||1||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

The One has made a home in the quiet hut of the heart.

The same living power fills the earth below and the sky above.

The quietest room in the universe might be right inside your own heart.
The deeper layer

The One lives inside your heart, and the same power fills the earth and sky.

A marhee is a small hut where a hermit lives and prays. Guru Nanak says the heart is that hut. Marhee ghar chhaa-i-aa — the One has made a home there. Dharan gagan kal Dhaaree — the One has poured kal, living power, into the earth and the sky.

So the same presence that fills the whole world also lives inside you. Think of a phone signal. It is everywhere in the air. But it lights up the little screen in your own hand. Your own body becomes the place of prayer.

A Question to Sit With

Where do you go, inside yourself, when you want to feel calm and at home?

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

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