Ang-1201 — Chapter 44
The Vedas are only merchants; spiritual wisdom is the capital; by His Grace, it is received.
O Nanak, without capital, no one has ever departed with profit. ||2||
Pauree:
You can water a bitter neem tree with ambrosial nectar.
You can feed a venomous snake lots of milk.
The self-willed manmukh is resistant; he cannot be softened. You might as well water a stone.
Irrigating a poisonous plant with ambrosial nectar, only poisonous fruit is obtained.
O Lord, please unite Nanak with the Sangat, the Holy Congregation, so that he may be rid of all poison. ||16||
Salok, First Mehl:
Death does not ask the time; it does not ask the date or the day of the week.
Some have packed up, and some who have packed up have gone.
Some are severely punished, and some are taken care of.
They must leave their armies and drums, and their beautiful mansions.
O Nanak, the pile of dust is once again reduced to dust. ||1||
First Mehl:
O Nanak, the pile shall fall apart; the fortress of the body is made of dust.
The thief has settled within you; O soul, your life is false. ||2||
Pauree:
Those who are filled with vicious slander, shall have their noses cut, and be shamed.
They are totally ugly, and always in pain. Their faces are blackened by Maya.
They rise early in the morning, to cheat and steal from others; they hide from the Lord's Name.
O Dear Lord, let me not even associate with them; save me from them, O my Sovereign Lord King.
O Nanak, the self-willed manmukhs act according to their past deeds, producing nothing but pain. ||17||
Salok, Fourth Mehl:
Everyone belongs to our Lord and Master. Everyone came from Him.
Only by realizing the Hukam of His Command, is Truth obtained.
The Gurmukh realizes his own self; no one appears evil to him.
O Nanak, the Gurmukh meditates on the Naam, the Name of the Lord. Fruitful is his coming into the world. ||1||
Fourth Mehl:
He Himself is the Giver of all; He unites all with Himself.
O Nanak, they are united with the Word of the Shabad; serving the Lord, the Great Giver, they shall never be separated from Him again. ||2||
Pauree:
Peace and tranquility fill the heart of the Gurmukh; the Name wells up within them.
Chanting and meditation, penance and self-discipline, and bathing at sacred shrines of pilgrimage - the merits of these come by pleasing my God.
So serve the Lord with a pure heart; singing His Glorious Praises, you shall be embellished and exalted.
My Dear Lord is pleased by this; he carries the Gurmukh across.
O Nanak, the Gurmukh is merged with the Lord; he is embellished in His Court. ||18||
Salok, First Mehl:
Thus speaks the wealthy man: I should go and get more wealth.
Nanak becomes poor on that day when he forgets the Lord's Name. ||1||
First Mehl:
The sun rises and sets, and the lives of all run out.
The mind and body experience pleasures; one loses, and another wins.
Everyone is puffed up with pride; even after they are spoken to, they do not stop.
O Nanak, the Lord Himself sees all; when He takes the air out of the balloon, the body falls. ||2||
Pauree:
The treasure of the Name is in the Sat Sangat, the True Congregation. There, the Lord is found.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
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.”