The Sahaj Path is the complete reading of the Guru Granth Sahib carried out at a gentle, unhurried pace over an extended period, days, weeks or even months, rather than in the continuous forty-eight-hour span of the Akhand Path. The word sahaj means "slow," "easy" or, more deeply, the state of natural equipoise and serenity that Sikh teaching holds to be the mark of spiritual maturity, and the reading takes its character from that ideal: it is undertaken calmly, a portion at a time, so that the reader may attend to the meaning of the Guru's word and absorb it, rather than merely completing the recitation of the sacred text.
A Sahaj Path may be undertaken by an individual or a family in the home, or in the gurdwara, to mark an occasion such as a birth, a wedding, a death or a festival, or simply as an act of devotion. Because it does not require a relay of readers through the night, it is more widely practicable than the Akhand Path and allows the reader to pause, reflect and return. Sikh authorities have often commended the Sahaj Path precisely because its unhurried pace serves the true purpose of the reading, understanding and living the teaching, over the mere merit of an unbroken recitation, and it concludes, like the continuous reading, with the completion ceremony of the bhog and the sharing of the sacred offering.