Ang-201 — Chapter 67
Are there to feed you as you rest.
This worthless person has not appreciated in the least, all the good deeds done for him.
If you bless him with forgiveness, O Nanak, only then will he be saved. ||1||
By His Grace, you abide in comfort upon the earth.
With your children, siblings, friends and spouse, you laugh.
By His Grace, you drink in cool water.
You have peaceful breezes and priceless fire.
By His Grace, you enjoy all sorts of pleasures.
You are provided with all the necessities of life.
He gave you hands, feet, ears, eyes and tongue,
and yet, you forsake Him and attach yourself to others.
Such sinful mistakes cling to the blind fools;
Nanak: uplift and save them, God! ||2||
From beginning to end, He is our Protector,
and yet, the ignorant do not give their love to Him.
Serving Him, the nine treasures are obtained,
and yet, the foolish do not link their minds with Him.
Our Lord and Master is Ever-present, forever and ever,
and yet, the spiritually blind believe that He is far away.
In His service, one obtains honor in the Court of the Lord,
and yet, the ignorant fool forgets Him.
Forever and ever, this person makes mistakes;
O Nanak, the Infinite Lord is our Saving Grace. ||3||
Forsaking the jewel, they are engrossed with a shell.
They renounce Truth and embrace falsehood.
That which passes away, they believe to be permanent.
That which is immanent, they believe to be far off.
They struggle for what they must eventually leave.
They turn away from the Lord, their Help and Support, who is always with them.
They wash off the sandalwood paste;
like donkeys, they are in love with the mud.
They have fallen into the deep, dark pit.
Nanak: lift them up and save them, O Merciful Lord God! ||4||
They belong to the human species, but they act like animals.
They curse others day and night.
Outwardly, they wear religious robes, but within is the filth of Maya.
They cannot conceal this, no matter how hard they try.
Outwardly, they display knowledge, meditation and purification,
but within clings the dog of greed.
The fire of desire rages within; outwardly they apply ashes to their bodies.
There is a stone around their neck - how can they cross the unfathomable ocean?
Those, within whom God Himself abides
- O Nanak, those humble beings are intuitively absorbed in the Lord. ||5||
By listening, how can the blind find the path?
Take hold of his hand, and then he can reach his destination.
How can a riddle be understood by the deaf?
Say 'night', and he thinks you said 'day'.
How can the mute sing the Songs of the Lord?
He may try, but his voice will fail him.
How can the cripple climb up the mountain?
He simply cannot go there.
O Creator, Lord of Mercy - Your humble servant prays;
Nanak: by Your Grace, please save me. ||6||
The Lord, our Help and Support, is always with us, but the mortal does not remember Him.
He shows love to his enemies.
He lives in a castle of sand.
He enjoys the games of pleasure and the tastes of Maya.
He believes them to be permanent - this is the belief of his mind.
Death does not even come to mind for the fool.
Hate, conflict, sexual desire, anger, emotional attachment,
falsehood, corruption, immense greed and deceit:
✦ 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.”