Sikhism·Raag Todee·Shabad 30
Verse 1 of 3

When the Center Holds, the Tangles Settle

ਟੋਡੀ ਮਹਲਾ ੫ ॥
todee mehlaa 5.
Todee, Fifth Mehl:
ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਚਰਨ ਰਿਦੈ ਉਰ ਧਾਰੇ ॥
har har charan ridai ur Dhaaray.
I have enshrined the Lord's Feet within my heart.
ਸਿਮਰਿ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਅਪੁਨਾ ਕਾਰਜ ਸਫਲ ਹਮਾਰੇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
simar su-aamee satgur apunaa kaaraj safal hamaaray. ||1|| rahaa-o.
Contemplating my Lord and Master, my True Guru, all my affairs have been resolved. ||1||Pause||

Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa

In plain words

I've set the One's feet right inside my heart.

And holding my true teacher, my One, close in mind — every tangled thing in my life has quietly sorted itself out.

When the center holds, the tangles settle — much of life's knotting is our own anxious grasping.
The deeper layer

A serene opening: "all my affairs have been resolved" (kaaraj safal hamaaray). This is one of the tradition's most reassuring promises, and it's worth reading carefully — not a magic guarantee that every problem vanishes, but the experience that when the center holds, the periphery settles. A mind anchored in the One stops multiplying its own crises; things that felt tangled untangle, because the anxious grasping that knotted them has relaxed. The 'resolution' begins inside and works outward.

A Question to Sit With

Have you noticed that when you're calm inside, problems seem more solvable? Why might that be?

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

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