Ang-1201 — Chapter 61
The lifestyle of the Lord's humble servant is exalted and sublime. He spreads the Kirtan of the Lord's Praises throughout the world. ||3||
O my Lord and Master, please be merciful, merciful to me, that I may enshrine the Lord, Har, Har, Har, within my heart.
Nanak has found the Perfect True Guru; in his mind, he chants the Name of the Lord. ||4||9||
Malaar, Third Mehl, Second House:
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:
Is this mind a householder, or is this mind a detached renunciate?
Is this mind beyond social class, eternal and unchanging?
Is this mind fickle, or is this mind detached?
How has this mind been gripped by possessiveness? ||1||
O Pandit, O religious scholar, reflect on this in your mind.
Why do you read so many other things, and carry such a heavy load? ||1||Pause||
The Creator has attached it to Maya and possessiveness.
Enforcing His Order, He created the world.
By Guru's Grace, understand this, O Siblings of Destiny.
Remain forever in the Sanctuary of the Lord. ||2||
He alone is a Pandit, who sheds the load of the three qualities.
Night and day, he chants the Name of the One Lord.
He accepts the Teachings of the True Guru.
He offers his head to the True Guru.
He remains forever unattached in the state of Nirvaanaa.
Such a Pandit is accepted in the Court of the Lord. ||3||
He preaches that the One Lord is within all beings.
As he sees the One Lord, he knows the One Lord.
That person, whom the Lord forgives, is united with Him.
He finds eternal peace, here and hereafter. ||4||
Says Nanak, what can anyone do?
He alone is liberated, whom the Lord blesses with His Grace.
Night and day, he sings the Glorious Praises of the Lord.
Then, he no longer bothers with the proclamations of the Shaastras or the Vedas. ||5||1||10||
Malaar, Third Mehl:
The self-willed manmukhs wander lost in reincarnation, confused and deluded by doubt.
The Messenger of Death constantly beats them and disgraces them.
Serving the True Guru, the mortal's subservience to Death is ended.
He meets the Lord God, and enters the Mansion of His Presence. ||1||
O mortal, as Gurmukh, meditate on the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
In duality, you are ruining and wasting this priceless human life. You trade it away in exchange for a shell. ||1||Pause||
The Gurmukh falls in love with the Lord, by His Grace.
He enshrines loving devotion to the Lord, Har, Har, deep within his heart.
The Word of the Shabad carries him across the terrifying world-ocean.
He appears true in the True Court of the Lord. ||2||
Performing all sorts of rituals, they do not find the True Guru.
Without the Guru, so many wander lost and confused in Maya.
Egotism, possessiveness and attachment rise up and increase within them.
In the love of dualty, the self-willed manmukhs suffer in pain. ||3||
The Creator Himself is Inaccessible and Infinite.
Chant the Word of the Guru's Shabad, and earn the true profit.
The Lord is Independent, Ever-present, here and now.
✦ 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.”
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.”
Humility & Surrender
Bhagavad Gita 18:66
“Abandon all varieties of dharma and simply surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions; do not fear.”
Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Tao Te Ching 22
“If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.”
Quran 2:45
“Seek help through patience and prayer. It is indeed exacting, but not for those who are humble.”