Ang-301 — Chapter 52
Serving the True Guru, one finds one's own place within the self. ||1||
To conquer the mind is the knowledge of the six Shaastras.
The Divine Light of the Lord God is perfectly pervading. ||1||Pause||
Excessive thirst for Maya makes people wear all sorts of religious robes.
The pain of corruption destroys the body's peace.
Sexual desire and anger steal the wealth of the self within.
But by abandoning duality, one is emancipated through the Naam, the Name of the Lord. ||2||
In the Lord's Praise and adoration is intuitive peace, poise and bliss.
The Love of the Lord God is one's family and friends.
He Himself is the Doer, and He Himself is the Forgiver.
My body and mind belong to the Lord; my life is at His Command. ||3||
Falsehood and corruption cause terrible suffering.
All the religious robes and social classes look just like dust.
Whoever is born, continues to come and go.
O Nanak, only the Naam and the Lord's Command are eternal and everlasting. ||4||11||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
In the pool is the one incomparably beautiful lotus.
It blossoms continually; its form is pure and fragrant.
The swans pick up the bright jewels.
They take on the essence of the All-powerful Lord of the Universe. ||1||
Whoever is seen, is subject to birth and death.
In the pool without water, the lotus is not seen. ||1||Pause||
How rare are those who know and understand this secret.
The Vedas continually speak of the three branches.
One who merges into the knowledge of the Lord as absolute and related,
serves the True Guru and obtains the supreme status. ||2||
One who is imbued with the Love of the Lord and dwells continually upon Him is liberated.
He is the king of kings, and blossoms forth continually.
That one whom You preserve, by bestowing Your Mercy, O Lord,
even the sinking stone - You float that one across. ||3||
Your Light is pervading the three worlds; I know that You are permeating the three worlds.
When my mind turned away from Maya, I came to dwell in my own home.
Nanak falls at the feet of that person who immerses himself in the Lord's Love,
And performs devotional worship night and day. ||4||12||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Receiving the True Teachings from the Guru, arguments depart.
But through excessive cleverness, one is only plastered with dirt.
The filth of attachment is removed by the True Name of the Lord.
By Guru's Grace, one remains lovingly attached to the Lord. ||1||
He is the Presence Ever-present; offer your prayers to Him.
Pain and pleasure are in the Hands of God, the True Creator. ||1||Pause||
One who practices falsehood comes and goes.
By speaking and talking, His limits cannot be found.
Whatever one sees, is not understood.
Without the Name, satisfaction does not enter into the mind. ||2||
Whoever is born is afflicted by disease,
tortured by the pain of egotism and Maya.
They alone are saved, who are protected by God.
Serving the True Guru, they drink in the Amrit, the Ambrosial Nectar. ||3||
The unstable mind is restrained by tasting this Nectar.
Serving the True Guru, one comes to cherish the Ambrosial Nectar of the Shabad.
Through the True Word of the Shabad, the state of liberation is obtained.
O Nanak, self-conceit is eradicated from within. ||4||13||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Whatever He has done, has proved to be true.
The True Guru bestows the Ambrosial Naam, the Name of the Lord.
With the Naam in the heart, the mind is not separated from the Lord.
Night and day, one dwells with the Beloved. ||1||
O Lord, please keep me in the Protection of Your Sanctuary.
✦ 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.”
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.”