ਪੜ੍ਹ ਪੜ੍ਹਿ ਇਲਮ ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਕਿੱਤਾਬਾਂ,
ਕਦੇ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਨੂੰ ਪੜ੍ਹਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ।
ਜਾ ਜਾ ਵੱਧਦੇ ਮੰਦਰ ਮਸੀਤਾਂ,
ਕਦੇ ਮਨ ਆਪਣੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਵੱਢਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ।
ਐਵੇਂ ਲੜਦਾ ਸ਼ੈਤਾਨ ਨਾਲ ਬੰਦੇ,
ਕਦੇ ਨਫ਼ਸ ਆਪਣੇ ਨਾਲ ਲੜਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ।
ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਨੂੰ ਪੜ੍ਹ,
ਫਿਰ ਮੰਦਰ ਮਸੀਤਾਂ ਵੱਡ।
ਜਦ ਨਫ਼ਸ ਤੇਰਾ ਮਰ ਜਾਵੇ ਬੰਦੇ,
ਫਿਰ ਚਾਰ ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ ਪੜ੍ਹ।
ਆਖੈ ਪੀਰ ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ, ਆਸਮਾਨੀ ਫੜ੍ਹਦੇ ਐਂ,
ਜੇਹੜਾ ਮਨ ਵਿਚ ਵੱਸਦਾ, ਉਹਨੂੰ ਫੜ੍ਹਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ।

Transliteration:

Padh padh ilm hazaar kitaaban,
kade apne aap nu paṛhiya nahi.
Jaa jaa vadhde mandar maseetaan,
kade mann apne vich vaḍhiya nahi.

Aiven laṛda shaitaan naal bande,
kade nafs apne naal laṛiya nahi.
Pehla apne aap nu paṛh,
fir mandar maseetaan vaḍh.

Jad nafs tera mar jaave bande,
fir chaar kitaaban paṛh.
Aakhe Peer Bulleh Shah, aasmani faṛhde ain,
Jehda mann vich vasda, ohnu faṛhiya nahin.

Translation:

You read and read a thousand books of knowledge,
yet never once have you read your own self.
You wander to grand temples and mosques,
yet never have you entered the depths of your own mind.

You fight the devil endlessly,
but never have you battled your own ego.
First, study your own being,
then go and visit temples or mosques.

When your ego dies, O seeker,
then read the sacred books.
Bulleh Shah says: you reach for the heavens, trying to grasp the sky,
but the One who resides in your own heart, you have never tried to hold.

There comes a moment in every seeker’s journey when external teachings stop being enough, and the pilgrimage or devotion turns inward. Scriptures can be read, teachers can be met, and life will endlessly mirror our unfinished lessons, we will get a million seasons to fixate on fixing, but the truth of who we are, our patterns, wounds, distortions, and latent wisdom, reveals itself only when we dare to look directly at ourselves.

Before any genuine spiritual work, the nervous system must be steadied; a dysregulated body cannot hold truth without collapsing into old defences, patterns and things we consider true because we were told “they are true”. Regulating your breath, sleep, boundaries, and emotional safety gives you the inner stability required to look at yourself without distortion. A calm nervous system makes honesty possible, and honesty is the first gate of real spiritual practice.

Every tradition across the world has pointed to this same inner turn. Self-knowledge is the root of all spiritual clarity. Even God, your highest vibration, your purest devotion, cannot be understood without understanding yourself. And that understanding does not come from comforting reflections or words from someone else; it comes from braving the parts you avoid, acknowledging the mistakes you made, ending patterns that sabotage you, and discerning when to create distance or deepen connection. No tradition promises growth without truth. No lineage offers awakening without self-honesty.

This series exists for that exact work.

Each worksheet will be a portal. Every question is designed to move you beneath your surface narrative into the subconscious patterns that shape your choices, relationships, fears, desires, and destiny. This is inner excavation that I talk about on my YouTube. It will be structured, precise, and clarifying. The kind of work that dissolves confusion, breaks illusions, restores dignity, and brings you home to yourself.

Every page is offered with devotion to Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi, whose presence makes honesty easier. In His company, truth stops feeling sharp and starts feeling liberating. And with the subtle guidance of Sri Ramana Maharshi, the entire journey folds into one profound inquiry: Who am I, beyond conditioning? Beyond what the world told you, you are or should be.

These worksheets invite you to sit with yourself in the same spirit. You just have to be honest with yourself, with or without pen & paper, as you would sit at Baba’s feet, completely vulnerable.

May these reflections help you see your patterns without shame, your potential without hesitation, and your path without fog. May you meet yourself with precision and gentleness. May every question return you to the Self that is always whole, always present, never wounded, never lost.

Begin wherever you are.

Baba will meet you there.

|| OM SAI SHRI SAI JAI JAI SAI || 

|| SHRI SATCHIDANANDA SADGURU SAINATH MAHARAJ KI JAI ||

Note: I have written poetry from memory based on folk songs we grew up listening.