Ang-51 — Chapter 26
At the last moment, you repent-you are so blind!-when the Messenger of Death seizes you and carries you away.
You kept all your things for yourself, but in an instant, they are all lost.
Your intellect left you, your wisdom departed, and now you repent for the evil deeds you committed.
Says Nanak, O mortal, in the third watch of the night, let your consciousness be lovingly focused on God. ||3||
In the fourth watch of the night, O my merchant friend, your body grows old and weak.
Your eyes go blind, and cannot see, O my merchant friend, and your ears do not hear any words.
Your eyes go blind, and your tongue is unable to taste; you live only with the help of others.
With no virtue within, how can you find peace? The self-willed manmukh comes and goes in reincarnation.
When the crop of life has matured, it bends, breaks and perishes; why take pride in that which comes and goes?
Says Nanak, O mortal, in the fourth watch of the night, the Gurmukh recognizes the Word of the Shabad. ||4||
Your breath comes to its end, O my merchant friend, and your shoulders are weighed down by the tyrant of old age.
Not one iota of virtue came into you, O my merchant friend; bound and gagged by evil, you are driven along.
One who departs with virtue and self-discipline is not struck down, and is not consigned to the cycle of birth and death.
The Messenger of Death and his trap cannot touch him; through loving devotional worship, he crosses over the ocean of fear.
He departs with honor, and merges in intuitive peace and poise; all his pains depart.
Says Nanak, when the mortal becomes Gurmukh, he is saved and honored by the True Lord. ||5||2||
Siree Raag, Fourth Mehl:
In the first watch of the night, O my merchant friend, the Lord places you in the womb.
You meditate on the Lord, and chant the Lord's Name, O my merchant friend. You contemplate the Name of the Lord, Har, Har.
Chanting the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, and meditating on it within the fire of the womb, your life is sustained by dwelling on the Naam.
You are born and you come out, and your mother and father are delighted to see your face.
Remember the One, O mortal, to whom the child belongs. As Gurmukh, reflect upon Him within your heart.
Says Nanak, O mortal, in the first watch of the night, dwell upon the Lord, who shall shower you with His Grace. ||1||
In the second watch of the night, O my merchant friend, the mind is attached to the love of duality.
Mother and father hug you close in their embrace, claiming, "He is mine, he is mine"; so is the child brought up, O my merchant friend.
Your mother and father constantly hug you close in their embrace; in their minds, they believe that you will provide for them and support them.
The fool does not know the One who gives; instead, he clings to the gift.
Rare is the Gurmukh who reflects upon, meditates upon, and within his mind, is lovingly attached to the Lord.
Says Nanak, in the second watch of the night, O mortal, death never devours you. ||2||
In the third watch of the night, O my merchant friend, your mind is entangled in worldly and household affairs.
You think of wealth, and gather wealth, O my merchant friend, but you do not contemplate the Lord or the Lord's Name.
You never dwell upon the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, who will be your only Helper and Support in the end.
✦ 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.”