Ang-401 — Chapter 13
Peace is enjoyed, meeting the Guru, the Spiritual Teacher.
The Lord is the only Master; He is the only Minister. ||5||
The world is held in bondage; he alone is emancipated, who conquers his ego.
How rare in the world is that wise person, who practices this.
How rare in this world is that scholar who reflects upon this.
Without meeting the True Guru, all wander in ego. ||6||
The world is unhappy; only a few are happy.
The world is diseased, from its indulgences; it weeps over its lost virtue.
The world wells up, and then subsides, losing its honor.
He alone, who becomes Gurmukh, understands. ||7||
His price is so costly; His weight is unbearable.
He is immovable and undeceivable; enshrine Him in your mind, through the Guru's Teachings.
Meet Him through love, become pleasing to Him, and act in fear of Him.
Nanak the lowly says this, after deep contemplation. ||8||3||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
When someone dies, the five passions meet and mourn his death.
Overcoming self-conceit, he washes off his filth with the Word of the Shabad.
One who knows and understands, enters the home of peace and poise.
Without understanding, he loses all his honor. ||1||
Who dies, and who weeps for him?
O Lord, Creator, Cause of causes, You are over the heads of all. ||1||Pause||
Who weeps over the pain of the dead?
Those who weep, do so over their own troubles.
God knows the condition of those who are so affected.
Whatever the Creator does, comes to pass. ||2||
One who remains dead while yet alive, is saved, and saves others as well.
Celebrate the Victory of the Lord; taking to His Sanctuary, the supreme status is obtained.
I am a sacrifice to the feet of the True Guru.
The Guru is the boat; through the Shabad of His Word, the terrifying world-ocean is crossed over. ||3||
He Himself is Fearless; His Divine Light is contained in all.
Without the Name, the world is defiled and untouchable.
Through evil-mindedness, they are ruined; why should they cry out and weep?
They are born only to die, without hearing the music of devotional worship. ||4||
Only one's true friends mourn one's death.
Those under the sway of the three dispositions continue to mourn on and on.
Disregarding pain and pleasure, center your consciousness on the Lord.
Dedicate your body and mind to the Love of the Lord. ||5||
The One Lord dwells within the various and countless beings.
There are so many rituals and religious faiths, their number is innumerable.
Without the Fear of God, and devotional worship, one's life is in vain.
Singing the Glorious Praises of the Lord, the supreme wealth is obtained. ||6||
He Himself dies, and He Himself kills.
He Himself establishes, and having established, disestablishes.
He created the Universe, and by His Divine Nature, instilled His Divine Light into it.
One who reflects upon the Word of the Shabad, meets the Lord, without doubt. ||7||
Pollution is the burning fire, which is consuming the world.
Pollution is in the water, upon the land, and everywhere.
O Nanak, people are born and die in pollution.
By Guru's Grace, they drink in the Lord's sublime elixir. ||8||4||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
One who contemplates his own self, tests the worth of the jewel.
With a single glance, the Perfect Guru saves him.
When the Guru is pleased, one's mind comforts itself. ||1||
He is such a banker, who tests us.
By His True Glance of Grace, we are blessed with the Love of the One Lord, and are saved. ||1||Pause||
The capital of the Naam is immaculate and sublime.
That peddler is rendered pure, who is imbued with the Truth.
Praising the Lord, in the house of poise, he attains the Guru, the Creator. ||2||
One who burns away hope and desire through the Word of the Shabad,
chants the Lord's Name, and inspires others to chant it as well.
Through the Guru, he finds the Path home, to the Mansion of the Lord's Presence. ||3||
✦ 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.”