Ang-501 — Chapter 98
This wretched world is caught in birth and death; in the love of duality, it has forgotten devotional worship of the Lord.
Meeting the True Guru, the Guru's Teachings are obtained; the faithless cynic loses the game of life. ||3||
Breaking my bonds, the True Guru has set me free, and I shall not be cast into the womb of reincarnation again.
O Nanak, the jewel of spiritual wisdom shines forth, and the Lord, the Formless Lord, dwells within my mind. ||4||8||
Sorat'h, First Mehl:
The treasure of the Name, for which you have come into the world - that Ambrosial Nectar is with the Guru.
Renounce costumes, disguises and clever tricks; this fruit is not obtained by duplicity. ||1||
O my mind, remain steady, and do not wander away.
By searching around on the outside, you shall only suffer great pain; the Ambrosial Nectar is found within the home of your own being. ||Pause||
Renounce corruption, and seek virtue; committing sins, you shall only come to regret and repent.
You do not know the difference between good and evil; again and again, you sink into the mud. ||2||
Within you is the great filth of greed and falsehood; why do you bother to wash your body on the outside?
Chant the Immaculate Naam, the Name of the Lord always, under Guru's Instruction; only then will your innermost being be emancipated. ||3||
Let greed and slander be far away from you, and renounce falsehood; through the True Word of the Guru's Shabad, you shall obtain the true fruit.
As it pleases You, You preserve me, Dear Lord; servant Nanak sings the Praises of Your Shabad. ||4||9||
Sorat'h, First Mehl, Panch-Padhay:
You cannot save your own home from being plundered; why do you spy on the houses of others?
That Gurmukh who joins himself to the Guru's service, saves his own home, and tastes the Lord's Nectar. ||1||
O mind, you must realize what your intellect is focused on.
Forgetting the Naam, the Name of the Lord, one is involved with other tastes; the unfortunate wretch shall come to regret it in the end. ||Pause||
When things come, he is pleased, but when they go, he weeps and wails; this pain and pleasure remains attached to him.
The Lord Himself causes him to enjoy pleasure and endure pain; the Gurmukh, however, remains unaffected. ||2||
What else can be said to be above the subtle essence of the Lord? One who drinks it in is satisfied and satiated.
One who is lured by Maya loses this juice; that faithless cynic is tied to his evil-mindedness. ||3||
The Lord is the life of the mind, the Master of the breath of life; the Divine Lord is contained in the body.
If You so bless us, Lord, then we sing Your Praises; the mind is satisfied and fulfilled, lovingly attached to the Lord. ||4||
In the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, the subtle essence of the Lord is obtained; meeting the Guru, the fear of death departs.
O Nanak, chant the Name of the Lord, as Gurmukh; you shall obtain the Lord, and realize your pre-ordained destiny. ||5||10||
Sorat'h, First Mehl:
Destiny, pre-ordained by the Lord, looms over the heads of all beings; no one is without this pre-ordained destiny.
Only He Himself is beyond destiny; creating the creation by His creative power, He beholds it, and causes His Command to be followed. ||1||
O mind, chant the Name of the Lord, and be at peace.
Day and night, serve at the Guru's feet; the Lord is the Giver, and the Enjoyer. ||Pause||
✦ 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.”