Ang-51 — Chapter 8
O Siblings of Destiny, I have no other place to go.
The Guru has given me the Treasure of the Wealth of the Naam; I am a sacrifice to Him. ||1||Pause||
The Guru's Teachings bring honor. Blessed is He-may I meet and be with Him!
Without Him, I cannot live, even for a moment. Without His Name, I die.
I am blind-may I never forget the Naam! Under His Protection, I shall reach my true home. ||2||
Those chaylaas, those devotees, whose spiritual teacher is blind, shall not find their place of rest.
Without the True Guru, the Name is not obtained. Without the Name, what is the use of it all?
People come and go, regretting and repenting, like crows in a deserted house. ||3||
Without the Name, the body suffers in pain; it crumbles like a wall of sand.
As long as Truth does not enter into the consciousness, the Mansion of the Lord's Presence is not found.
Attuned to the Shabad, we enter our home, and obtain the Eternal State of Nirvaanaa. ||4||
I ask my Guru for His Advice, and I follow the Guru's Advice.
With the Shabads of Praise abiding in the mind, the pain of egotism is burnt away.
We are intuitively united with Him, and we meet the Truest of the True. ||5||
Those who are attuned to the Shabad are spotless and pure; they renounce sexual desire, anger, selfishness and conceit.
They sing the Praises of the Naam, forever and ever; they keep the Lord enshrined within their hearts.
How could we ever forget Him from our minds? He is the Support of all beings. ||6||
One who dies in the Shabad is beyond death, and shall never die again.
Through the Shabad, we find Him, and embrace love for the Name of the Lord.
Without the Shabad, the world is deceived; it dies and is reborn, over and over again. ||7||
All praise themselves, and call themselves the greatest of the great.
Without the Guru, one's self cannot be known. By merely speaking and listening, what is accomplished?
O Nanak, one who realizes the Shabad does not act in egotism. ||8||8||
Siree Raag, First Mehl:
Without her Husband, the soul-bride's youth and ornaments are useless and wretched.
She does not enjoy the pleasure of His Bed; without her Husband, her ornaments are absurd.
The discarded bride suffers terrible pain; her Husband does not come to the bed of her home. ||1||
O mind, meditate on the Lord, and find peace.
Without the Guru, love is not found. United with the Shabad, happiness is found. ||1||Pause||
Serving the Guru, she finds peace, and her Husband Lord adorns her with intuitive wisdom.
Truly, she enjoys the Bed of her Husband, through her deep love and affection.
As Gurmukh, she comes to know Him. Meeting with the Guru, she maintains a virtuous lifestyle. ||2||
Through Truth, meet your Husband Lord, O soul-bride. Enchanted by your Husband, enshrine love for Him.
Your mind and body shall blossom forth in Truth. The value of this cannot be described.
The soul-bride finds her Husband Lord in the home of her own being; she is purified by the True Name. ||3||
If the mind within the mind dies, then the Husband ravishes and enjoys His bride.
They are woven into one texture, like pearls on a necklace around the neck.
In the Society of the Saints, peace wells up; the Gurmukhs take the Support of the Naam. ||4||
In an instant, one is born, and in an instant, one dies. In an instant one comes, and in an instant one goes.
One who recognizes the Shabad merges into it, and is not afflicted by death.
✦ 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.”