Ang-1001 — Chapter 9

Study the Lord's Name, and understand the Lord's Name; follow the Guru's Teachings, and through the Naam, you shall be saved.

Perfect are the Teachings of the Perfect Guru; contemplate the Perfect Word of the Shabad.

The Lord's Name is the sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage, and the Eradicator of sins. ||2||

The blind ignorant mortal stirs the water and churns the water, wishing to obtain butter.

Following the Guru's Teachings, one churns the cream, and the treasure of the Ambrosial Naam is obtained.

The self-willed manmukh is a beast; he does not know the essence of reality that is contained within himself. ||3||

Dying in egotism and self-conceit, one dies, and dies again, only to be reincarnated over and over again.

But when he dies in the Word of the Guru's Shabad, then he does not die, ever again.

When he follows the Guru's Teachings, and enshrines the Lord, the Life of the World, within his mind, he redeems all his generations. ||4||

The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is the true object, the true commodity.

The Naam is the only true profit in this world. Follow the Guru's Teachings, and contemplate it.

To work in the love of duality, brings constant loss in this world. ||5||

True is one's association, true is one's place,

And true is one's hearth and home, when one has the support of the Naam.

Contemplating the True Word of the Guru's Bani, and the True Word of the Shabad, one becomes content. ||6||

Enjoying princely pleasures, one shall be destroyed in pain and pleasure.

Adopting a name of greatness, one strings heavy sins around his neck.

Mankind cannot give gifts; You alone are the Giver of everything. ||7||

You are inaccessible and unfathomable; O Lord, You are imperishable and infinite.

Through the Word of the Guru's Shabad, seeking at the Lord's Door, one finds the treasure of liberation.

O Nanak, this union is not broken, if one deals in the merchandise of Truth. ||8||1||

Maaroo, First Mehl:

The boat is loaded with sin and corruption, and launched into the sea.

The shore cannot be seen on this side, nor on the shore beyond.

There are no oars, nor any boatmen, to cross over the terrifying world-ocean. ||1||

O Baba, the world is caught in the great noose.

By Guru's Grace, they are saved, contemplating the True Name. ||1||Pause||

The True Guru is the boat; the Word of the Shabad will carry them across.

There is neither wind nor fire, neither water nor form there.

The True Name of the True Lord is there; it carries them across the terrifying world-ocean. ||2||

The Gurmukhs reach the shore beyond, lovingly focusing on the True Lord.

Their comings and goings are ended, and their light merges into the Light.

Following the Guru's Teachings, intuitive peace wells up within them, and they remain merged in the True Lord. ||3||

The snake may be locked in a basket, but it is still poisonous, and the anger within its mind remains.

One obtains what is pre-ordained; why does he blame others?

If one, as Gurmukh, hears and believes in the Name, the charm against poison, his mind becomes content. ||4||

The crocodile is caught by the hook and line;

caught in the trap of evil-mindedness, he regrets and repents, again and again.

He does not understand birth and death; the inscription of one's past actions cannot be erased. ||5||

Injecting the poison of egotism, the world was created; with the Shabad enshrined within, the poison is eliminated.

Old age cannot torment one who remains lovingly absorbed in the True Lord.

He alone is called Jivan-Mikta, liberated while yet alive, from within whom egotism is eradicated. ||6||