Ang-1001 — Chapter 29
God grants His Grace, and carries him across to the other side.
The ocean is very deep, filled with fiery water; the Guru, the True Guru, carries us across to the other side. ||2||
The blind, self-willed manmukh does not understand.
He comes and goes in reincarnation, dying, and dying again.
The primal inscription of destiny cannot be erased. The spiritually blind suffer terribly at Death's door. ||3||
Some come and go, and do not find a home in their own heart.
Bound by their past actions, they commit sins.
The blind ones have no understanding, no wisdom; they are trapped and ruined by greed and egotism. ||4||
Without her Husband Lord, what good are the soul-bride's decorations?
She has forgotten her Lord and Master, and is infatuated with another's husband.
Just as no one knows who is the father of the prostitute's son, such are the worthless, useless deeds that are done. ||5||
The ghost, in the body-cage, suffers all sorts of afflictions.
Those who are blind to spiritual wisdom, putrefy in hell.
The Righteous Judge of Dharma collects the balance due on the account, of those who forget the Name of the Lord. ||6||
The scorching sun blazes with flames of poison.
The self-willed manmukh is dishonored, a beast, a demon.
Trapped by hope and desire, he practices falsehood, and is afflicted by the terrible disease of corruption. ||7||
He carries the heavy load of sins on his forehead and head.
How can he cross the terrifying world-ocean?
From the very beginning of time, and throughout the ages, the True Guru has been the boat; through the Lord's Name, He carries us across. ||8||
The love of one's children and spouse is so sweet in this world.
The expansive expanse of the Universe is attachment to Maya.
The True Guru snaps the noose of Death, for that Gurmukh who contemplates the essence of reality. ||9||
Cheated by falsehood, the self-willed manmukh walks along many paths;
he may be highly educated, but he burns in the fire.
The Guru is the Great Giver of the Ambrosial Naam, the Name of the Lord. Chanting the Naam, sublime peace is obtained. ||10||
The True Guru, in His Mercy, implants Truth within.
All suffering is eradicated, and one is placed on the Path.
Not even a thorn ever pierces the foot of one who has the True Guru as his Protector. ||11||
Dust mixes with dust, when the body wastes away.
The self-willed manmukh is like a stone slab, which is impervious to water.
He cries out and weeps and wails; he is reincarnated into heaven and then hell. ||12||
They live with the poisonous snake of Maya.
This duality has ruined so many homes.
Without the True Guru, love does not well up. Imbued with devotional worship, the soul is satisfied. ||13||
The faithless cynics chase after Maya.
Forgetting the Naam, how can they find peace?
In the three qualities, they are destroyed; they cannot cross over to the other side. ||14||
The false are called pigs and dogs.
They bark themselves to death; they bark and bark and howl in fear.
False in mind and body, they practice falsehood; through their evil-mindedness, they lose out in the Court of the Lord. ||15||
Meeting the True Guru, the mind is stabilized.
One who seeks His Sanctuary is blessed with the Lord's Name.
They are given the priceless wealth of the Lord's Name; singing His Praises, they are His beloveds in His court. ||16||
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Leviticus 19:18
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Divine Compassion & Mercy
Quran 1:1
“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Psalm 23:1
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
Luke 6:36
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Snp 1.8
“As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate a limitless heart with regard to all beings.”
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
Tao Te Ching 76
“A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
Dhammapada 20:282
“Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes.”
Analects 2:11
“If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.”
Tao Te Ching 33
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Genesis 1:3
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”