Ang-1201 — Chapter 77
Without the True Guru, no one finds the Lord; anyone can try and see.
By the Lord's Grace, the True Guru is found, and then the Lord is met with intuitive ease.
The self-willed manmukh is deluded by doubt; without good destiny, the Lord's wealth is not obtained. ||5||
The three dispositions are completely distracting; people read and study and contemplate them.
Those people are never liberated; they do not find the Door of Salvation.
Without the True Guru, they are never released from bondage; they do not embrace love for the Naam, the Name of the Lord. ||6||
The Pandits, the religious scholars, and the silent sages, reading and studying the Vedas, have grown weary.
They do not even think of the Lord's Name; they do not dwell in the home of their own inner being.
The Messenger of Death hovers over their heads; they are ruined by the deceit within themselves. ||7||
Everyone longs for the Name of the Lord; without good destiny, it is not obtained.
When the Lord bestows His Glance of Grace, the mortal meets the True Guru, and the Lord's Name comes to dwell within the mind.
O Nanak, through the Name, honor wells up, and the mortal remains immersed in the Lord. ||8||2||
Malaar, Third Mehl, Ashtpadheeyaa, Second House:
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:
When the Lord shows His Mercy, He enjoins the mortal to work for the Guru.
His pains are taken away, and the Lord's Name comes to dwell within.
True deliverance comes by focusing one's consciousness on the True Lord.
Listen to the Shabad, and the Word of the Guru's Bani. ||1||
O my mind, serve the Lord, Har, Har, the true treasure.
By Guru's Grace, the wealth of the Lord is obtained. Night and day, focus your meditation on the Lord. ||1||Pause||
The soul-bride who adorns herself without her Husband Lord,
is ill-mannered and vile, wasted away into ruin.
This is the useless way of life of the self-willed manmukh.
Forgetting the Naam, the Name of the Lord, he performs all sorts of empty rituals. ||2||
The bride who is Gurmukh is beautifully embellished.
Through the Word of the Shabad, she enshrines her Husband Lord within her heart.
She realizes the One Lord, and subdues her ego.
That soul-bride is virtuous and noble. ||3||
Without the Guru, the Giver, no one finds the Lord.
The greedy self-willed manmukh is attracted and engrossed in duality.
Only a few spiritual teachers realize this,
that without meeting the Guru, liberation is not obtained. ||4||
Everyone tells the stories told by others.
Without subduing the mind, devotional worship does not come.
When the intellect achieves spiritual wisdom, the heart-lotus blossoms forth.
The Naam, the Name of the Lord, comes to abide in that heart. ||5||
In egotism, everyone can pretend to worship God with devotion.
But this does not soften the mind, and it does not bring peace.
By speaking and preaching, the mortal only shows off his self-conceit.
His devotional worship is useless, and his life is a total waste. ||6||
They alone are devotees, who are pleasing to the Mind of the True Guru.
Night and day, they remain lovingly attuned to the Name.
They behold the Naam, the Name of the Lord, ever-present, near at hand.
✦ 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.”
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.”
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.”