ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਬਿਨਉ ਸੁਨੀਜੈ ॥
kaho naanak parabh bin-o suneejai.
Says Nanak, hear my prayer, God:
ਕੁਚਲੁ ਕਠੋਰੁ ਕਾਮੀ ਮੁਕਤੁ ਕੀਜੈ ॥੪॥
kuchal kathor kaamee mukat keejai. ||4||
I am silly, stubborn and filled with sexual desire - please, liberate me! ||4||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Hear my prayer, O One: I can be foolish, stubborn, and pulled about by my wants.
Set me free from all of that — not by my cleverness, but by Your kindness.
The honest prayer names your own faults, not everyone else's.
Strikingly, the poet turns the whole critique on himself: kuchal kathor kaamee mukat keejai. The one who described the pretender now asks for release from the very same tendencies. This is the humility the shabad has been pointing to — no looking down, only honest asking. Self-description softened toward honest limitation, not self-condemnation.
A Question to Sit With
What is one habit in yourself you would gently ask to be freed from?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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