Ang-101 — Chapter 49
Reflecting on the True Word of the Shabad, death is overcome.
Speaking the Unspoken Speech of the Lord, one is adorned with the Word of His Shabad.
Nanak holds tight to the Treasure of Virtue, and meets with the Dear, Beloved Lord. ||23||
Salok, First Mehl:
Born because of the karma of their past mistakes, they make more mistakes, and fall into mistakes.
By washing, their pollution is not removed, even though they may wash hundreds of times.
O Nanak, if God forgives, they are forgiven; otherwise, they are kicked and beaten. ||1||
First Mehl:
O Nanak, it is absurd to ask to be spared from pain by begging for comfort.
Pleasure and pain are the two garments given, to be worn in the Court of the Lord.
Where you are bound to lose by speaking, there, you ought to remain silent. ||2||
Pauree:
After looking around in the four directions, I looked within my own self.
There, I saw the True, Invisible Lord Creator.
I was wandering in the wilderness, but now the Guru has shown me the Way.
Hail to the True, True Guru, through whom we merge in the Truth.
I have found the jewel within the home of my own self; the lamp within has been lit.
Those who praise the True Word of the Shabad, abide in the peace of Truth.
But those who do not have the Fear of God, are overtaken by fear. They are destroyed by their own pride.
Having forgotten the Name, the world is roaming around like a wild demon. ||24||
Salok, Third Mehl:
In fear we are born, and in fear we die. Fear is always present in the mind.
O Nanak, if one dies in the fear of God, his coming into the world is blessed and approved. ||1||
Third Mehl:
Without the fear of God, you may live very, very long, and savor the most enjoyable pleasures.
O Nanak, if you die without the fear of God, you will arise and depart with a blackened face. ||2||
Pauree:
When the True Guru is merciful, then your desires will be fulfilled.
When the True Guru is merciful, you will never grieve.
When the True Guru is merciful, you will know no pain.
When the True Guru is merciful, you will enjoy the Lord's Love.
When the True Guru is merciful, then why should you fear death?
When the True Guru is merciful, the body is always at peace.
When the True Guru is merciful, the nine treasures are obtained.
When the True Guru is merciful, you shall be absorbed in the True Lord. ||25||
Salok, First Mehl:
They pluck the hair out of their heads, and drink in filthy water; they beg endlessly and eat the garbage which others have thrown away.
They spread manure, they suck in rotting smells, and they are afraid of clean water.
Their hands are smeared with ashes, and the hair on their heads is plucked out-they are like sheep!
They have renounced the lifestyle of their mothers and fathers, and their families and relatives cry out in distress.
No one offers the rice dishes at their last rites, and no one lights the lamps for them. After their death, where will they be sent?
The sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage give them no place of protection, and no Brahmin will eat their food.
They remain polluted forever, day and night; they do not apply the ceremonial tilak mark to their foreheads.
They sit together in silence, as if in mourning; they do not go to the Lord's Court.
With their begging bowls hanging from their waists, and their fly-brushes in their hands, they walk along in single file.
They are not Yogis, and they are not Jangams, followers of Shiva. They are not Qazis or Mullahs.
✦ 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.”
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.”
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.”