Ang-1301 — Chapter 31
the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst.
I am poor, but I have the Wealth of Your Name, O my Beloved.
This is the most excellent wealth; all else is poison and ashes. ||4||
I pay no attention to slander and praise; I contemplate the Word of the Shabad.
I celebrate the One who blesses me with His Bounty.
Whomever You forgive, O Lord, is blessed with status and honor.
Says Nanak, I speak as He causes me to speak. ||5||12||
Prabhaatee, First Mehl:
Eating too much, one's filth only increases; wearing fancy clothes, one's home is disgraced.
Talking too much, one only starts arguments. Without the Name, everything is poison - know this well. ||1||
O Baba, such is the treacherous trap which has caught my mind;
riding out the waves of the storm, it will be enlightened by intuitive wisdom. ||1||Pause||
They eat poison, speak poison and do poisonous deeds.
Bound and gagged at Death's door, they are punished; they can be saved only through the True Name. ||2||
As they come, they go. Their actions are recorded, and go along with them.
The self-willed manmukh loses his capital, and is punished in the Court of the Lord. ||3||
The world is false and polluted; only the True One is Pure. Contemplate Him through the Word of the Guru's Shabad.
Those who have God's spiritual wisdom within, are known to be very rare. ||4||
They endure the unendurable, and the Nectar of the Lord, the Embodiment of Bliss, trickles into them continuously.
O Nanak, the fish is in love with the water; if it pleases You, Lord, please enshrine such love within me. ||5||13||
Prabhaatee, First Mehl:
Songs, sounds, pleasures and clever tricks;
joy, love and the power to command;
fine clothes and food - these have no place in one's consciousness.
True intuitive peace and poise rest in the Naam. ||1||
What do I know about what God does?
Without the Naam, the Name of the Lord, nothing makes my body feel good. ||1||Pause||
Yoga, thrills, delicious flavors and ecstasy;
wisdom, truth and love all come from devotion to the Lord of the Universe.
My own occupation is to work to praise the Lord.
Deep within, I dwell on the Lord of the sun and the moon. ||2||
I have lovingly enshrined the love of my Beloved within my heart.
My Husband Lord, the Lord of the World, is the Master of the meek and the poor.
Night and day, the Naam is my giving in charity and fasting.
The waves have subsided, contemplating the essence of reality. ||3||
What power do I have to speak the Unspoken?
I worship You with devotion; You inspire me to do so.
You dwell deep within; my egotism is dispelled.
So whom should I serve? There is no other than You. ||4||
The Word of the Guru's Shabad is utterly sweet and sublime.
Such is the Ambrosial Nectar I see deep within.
Those who taste this, attain the state of perfection.
O Nanak, they are satisfied, and their bodies are at peace. ||5||14||
Prabhaatee, First Mehl:
Deep within, I see the Shabad, the Word of God; my mind is pleased and appeased. Nothing else can touch and imbue me.
Day and night, God watches over and cares for His beings and creatures; He is the Ruler of all. ||1||
My God is dyed in the most beautiful and glorious color.
Merciful to the meek and the poor, my Beloved is the Enticer of the mind; He is so very sweet, imbued with the deep crimson color of His Love. ||1||Pause||
The Well is high up in the Tenth Gate; the Ambrosial Nectar flows, and I drink it in.
The creation is His; He alone knows its ways and means. The Gurmukh contemplates spiritual wisdom. ||2||
✦ 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.”
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.”