Ang-1301 — Chapter 111
One who sees the One and Only Lord with his eyes - his hands shall not get muddy and dirty.
O Nanak, the Gurmukhs are saved; the Guru has surrounded the ocean with the embankment of Truth. ||8||
If you wish to put out the fire, then look for water; without the Guru, the ocean of water is not found.
You shall continue to wander lost in reincarnation through birth and death, even if you do thousands of other deeds.
But you shall not be taxed by the Messenger of Death, if you walk in harmony with the Will of the True Guru.
O Nanak, the immaculate, immortal status is obtained, and the Guru will unite you in the Lord's Union. ||9||
The crow rubs and washes itself in the mud puddle.
Its mind and body are polluted with its own mistakes and demerits, and its beak is filled with dirt.
The swan in the pool associated with the crow, not knowing that it was evil.
Such is the love of the faithless cynic; understand this, O spiritually wise ones, through love and devotion.
So proclaim the victory of the Society of the Saints, and act as Gurmukh.
Immaculate and pure is that cleansing bath, O Nanak, at the sacred shrine of the Guru's river. ||10||
What should I account as the rewards of this human life, if one does not feel love and devotion to the Lord?
Wearing clothes and eating food is useless, if the mind is filled with the love of duality.
Seeing and hearing is false, if one speaks lies.
O Nanak, praise the Naam, the Name of the Lord; everything else is coming and going in egotism. ||11||
The Saints are few and far between; everything else in the world is just a pompous show. ||12||
O Nanak, one who is struck by the Lord dies instantaneously; the power to live is lost.
If someone dies by such a stroke, then he is accepted.
He alone is struck, who is struck by the Lord; after such a stroke, he is approved.
The arrow of love, shot by the All-knowing Lord, cannot be pulled out. ||13||
Who can wash the unbaked clay pot?
Joining the five elements together, the Lord made a false cover.
When it pleases Him, He makes it right.
The supreme light shines forth, and the celestial song vibrates and resounds. ||14||
Those who are totally blind in their minds, do not have the integrity to keep their word.
With their blind minds, and their upside-down heart-lotus, they look totally ugly.
Some know how to speak and understand what they are told. Those people are wise and good-looking.
Some do not know the Sound-current of the Naad, spiritual wisdom or the joy of song. They do not even understand good and bad.
Some have no idea of perfection, wisdom or understanding; they know nothing about the mystery of the Word.
O Nanak, those people are really donkeys; they have no virtue or merit, but still, they are very proud. ||15||
He alone is a Brahmin, who knows God.
He chants and meditates, and practices austerity and good deeds.
He keeps to the Dharma, with faith, humility and contentment.
Breaking his bonds, he is liberated.
Such a Brahmin is worthy of being worshipped. ||16||
He alone is a Kh'shaatriyaa, who is a hero in good deeds.
He uses his body to give in charity;
he understands his farm, and plants the seeds of generosity.
Such a Kh'shaatriyaa is accepted in the Court of the Lord.
Whoever practices greed, possessiveness and falsehood,
shall receive the fruits of his own labors. ||17||
Do not heat your body like a furnace, or burn your bones like firewood.
What have your head and feet done wrong? See your Husband Lord within yourself. ||18||
✦ 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.”
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.”