ਚੜ੍ਹਦੀ ਕਲਾਚੜ੍ਹਦੀ ਕਲਾ

Chardi Kala is a Punjabi phrase at the heart of the Sikh way of life. It names a spirit that keeps rising: optimism that does not collapse in hardship, cheerfulness that is not shaken by loss, and courage that keeps a person working for good when circumstances argue for despair. A Sikh is expected to live in this state not only when life is easy, but especially when it is hard.

What does Chardi Kala mean?

Chardi Kala means ever rising spirits, or a state of eternal optimism, resilience and joy. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, in its entry by Jaswant Singh Neki, explains the words piece by piece: chardi, in Punjabi, means rising, ascending or soaring, and kala, a word of Sanskrit origin, carries energy as one of its main meanings. Put together, the phrase means an intensely energised, ever ascending state of the spirit of a person or of a whole community. It is also translated more simply as positive attitude, ascending energy, or being in high spirits.

That rising state has a clear shape in the sources. It is marked by faith, confidence, cheerfulness, courage, fortitude and discipline, and by a readiness to uphold cherished ideals and do the work in front of you even in the face of the most daunting challenge. In Chardi Kala a person is described as free of fear, jealousy and enmity, and full instead of joy, satisfaction and self dignity. It also carries confidence that truth will in the end prevail over falsehood and good over evil.

The closing line of Ardas

Most Sikhs meet Chardi Kala first as a prayer, because it is asked for every day. The Sikh congregational prayer, ਅਰਦਾਸ, ends with a line that may not be altered: Nanak Naam Chardi Kala, Tere Bhane Sarbat Da Bhala. In plain words: through the Name of Nanak, may the spirit keep rising, and in Your will, may there be welfare for all. SikhiWiki calls Chardi Kala the cherished ideal mood which the Gurus preached and for which a Sikh daily prays in Ardas.

Notice where the line ends. It does not end with the person praying. It ends with Sarbat Da Bhala, the welfare of all. Chardi Kala is therefore never a private mood kept for oneself. The same breath that asks for a rising spirit asks for good for everyone, including people outside the faith and outside the room. That ending shapes everything else on this page: the rising spirit is measured by what it does for others.

Roots in the teaching of the Gurus

The roots of Chardi Kala lie in Guru Nanak Dev Ji's teaching on Naam and Bhana. Sikhs believe in the will of God, called Bhana or Hukam, and believe that God is without enemies, Nirvair, and always merciful. From that belief comes the practice at the centre of this concept: accept the divine will even in severe hardship, stay connected to ਨਾਮ ਜਪਣਾ, remembrance of God, and work through the hardship for the betterment of others. SikhNet summarises Guru Nanak Dev Ji's teaching in this way: pain and pleasure are both received from God, and the believer stays connected to the Name in both.

Later Gurus lived the teaching under pressure. Sikh tradition remembers Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Guru, accepting his suffering with the words Tera Bhana Meetha Lage, meaning Your will is sweet to me, as SikhNet recounts. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism gives a memorable proclamation from Guru Gobind Singh Ji in the hardest days of a lonely forest journey after the battles around Anandpur Sahib and Chamkaur, in words rendered in English as a preference for sleeping on bare ground with God over comfortable living apart from Him. SikhNet also recalls Guru Gobind Singh Ji after the loss of his four sons at Chamkaur, pointing to the thousands of Sikhs who still lived. The point of these memories inside the community is not that loss is small. It is that the spirit is not surrendered to it.

The Encyclopaedia also describes how, in periods when Sikhs were driven from their homes, the community forged a whole humorous vocabulary for its own hardships, making light of privations rather than giving in to them. That humour is part of the concept's history: Chardi Kala has often been carried by ordinary Sikhs together, as a shared discipline, and not only by the Gurus as teachers.

More than positive thinking

Chardi Kala is often compared with positive thinking, but the sources show why it is not the same thing. It does not deny pain, and it does not ask anyone to pretend that suffering is easy or that a loss is not a loss. Its optimism rests on two anchors that simple positive thinking does not have. The first is Naam: SikhiWiki describes Naam as the powerhouse of Chardi Kala, the unlimited energy or life force from which the rising state is drawn, renewed through remembrance and prayer. The second is Bhana: because hardship is received within the will of a merciful God, it can be faced with as little harm as possible instead of with panic, hatred or despair.

That is why Chardi Kala joins inward faith to outward action. A person in this state is ready to act, pursues the ideals they cherish, does a good deed without making a noise about it, and moves on to the next one. In Sikh life that readiness takes familiar forms: ਕਿਰਤ ਕਰੋ, honest work, and ਵੰਡ ਛਕਣਾ, sharing what you have with others. Wikipedia makes the same link in plain terms: this attitude involves joining and helping others in their hour of need. Optimism that does not help anyone is, by this measure, not yet Chardi Kala.

How is Chardi Kala lived today?

Today Chardi Kala is lived first in small, daily ways. It is heard in the closing line of Ardas in gurdwaras around the world, used as a greeting and an answer when Punjabis ask after one another, and spoken at funerals, in hospital wards and after bad news as a way of saying that the family and the community will carry on together. Children grow up hearing the phrase before they can explain it, and many Sikhs in the diaspora reach for it precisely because it holds home, faith and resolve in two words.

It is also visible in service. SikhNet notes that, based on this philosophy, the community gives time to seva, selfless service, in community kitchens, in free aid during disasters and in support for people in need. The langar hall is the everyday picture of this: the rising spirit is not announced, it is cooked, served and washed up. When Sikhs respond to floods, earthquakes or a local crisis by feeding strangers, they and their neighbours often name that response Chardi Kala, because the help arrives without despair and without asking who deserves it.

For a reader who wants the practice and not only the idea, the sources point to a simple pattern. Remember God through Naam, accept what cannot be changed as Bhana without giving up, keep the company of people who lift the spirit, work honestly, share what you have, and help the next person in need. That pattern is why teachers describe Chardi Kala as a way of life rather than a slogan. It begins in the mind, but it is proved, day after day, in conduct, and its final test is the line it comes from: Sarbat Da Bhala, the welfare of all. Read next: ਅਰਦਾਸ, ਨਾਮ ਜਪਣਾ and ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਨੇ.