How to read Nitnem

Nitnem means daily practice — the set of banis a Sikh reads each day. It is usually kept in three parts across the day, and the app follows that same rhythm.

The banis by time of day

In the morning, before or after Amrit Vela, the banis read are Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, Tav-Prasad Savaiye, Chaupai Sahib and Anand Sahib. Anand Sahib, by Guru Amar Das Ji, opens:

ਅਨੰਦੁ ਭਇਆ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਏ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੂ ਮੈ ਪਾਇਆ ॥

In the evening, at sunset, Rehras Sahib is read. At night, before sleep, Sohila is read. Its compositions are drawn from the early Angs of the Granth, near this line on Ang 12:

ਤੂ ਆਪੇ ਕਰਤਾ ਤੇਰਾ ਕੀਆ ਸਭੁ ਹੋਇ ॥

How the app helps

Gurbani Soul keeps your place in each bani, so you can put the phone down and pick up where you left off. It keeps a quiet record of the days you have read, without scoring you or turning it into a streak to defend.

Reminders are entirely optional and you set them yourself — a gentle nudge at the times you choose, never a stream of notifications. Nothing about your reading leaves the device: there is no account and no tracking.

Nitnem is a practice built on returning, not on finishing. Read at your own pace: a few lines with attention are worth more than a page rushed through, and the app is designed to wait for you rather than hurry you along. The banis themselves are unchanged whether you read one or all of them, so there is no wrong place to begin.

If you want to read the full text of any bani, or look up a line you half-remember, the reader and search cover the whole Granth, Ang by Ang, in verbatim Gurmukhi.