Simran (Prayer)

Nirankari devotees are introduced to the simran (prayer) below when they are given Divine Knowledge from an authorised saint, who has been appointed by the Satguru (His Holiness).

Tu hi Nirankar

Main Teri Sharan Haan

Mainu Baksh Lao

A direct English translation (Reference: God Remembrance) might be:

Thou formless One

I take refuge in Thee

I pray, forgive me

The devotees use this simran to attain spiritual strength. They may pray whenever/wherever they feel like (after all for them God is omnipresent, i.e. all around), but constant realisation of formless God is encouraged. This is reflected by the Avtar Bani verse 117, which says that "Keep on remembering God, saying Tuhi Nirankar [One Thou Formless God] and keep on singing the praise of God; do remember Him every moment and make Him dwell in your mind." (Please refer to the Punjabi version for the original verse as this is only an English translation)

Saints often advise “Hath kar wal, te dil yaar wal”, which simply means that while worldly responsibilities are being carried out using the body, the mind of devotees must remain connected with Nirankar.

The simran also has some salient points of interest. Notice that it involves the use of the word “Ik” (One). The idea behind this is to simply illustrate the principle that God is a single entity, even though this entity has been called by several names used throughout history by different people. The simran also uses the word “Nirankar”, to signify the formless nature of this entity. The use of the words “teri” (thy) and “Tu” (thou) highlights the fact Nirankari devotees relate to this entity as closely as the way two ordinary human beings interact with each other.