Ang-51 — Chapter 9
Our Lord and Master is Unweighable; He cannot be weighed. He cannot be found merely by talking. ||5||
The merchants and the traders have come; their profits are pre-ordained.
Those who practice Truth reap the profits, abiding in the Will of God.
With the Merchandise of Truth, they meet the Guru, who does not have a trace of greed. ||6||
As Gurmukh, they are weighed and measured, in the balance and the scales of Truth.
The enticements of hope and desire are quieted by the Guru, whose Word is True.
He Himself weighs with the scale; perfect is the weighing of the Perfect One. ||7||
No one is saved by mere talk and speech, nor by reading loads of books.
The body does not obtain purity without loving devotion to the Lord.
O Nanak, never forget the Naam; the Guru shall unite us with the Creator. ||8||9||
Siree Raag, First Mehl:
Meeting the Perfect True Guru, we find the jewel of meditative reflection.
Surrendering our minds to our Guru, we find universal love.
We find the wealth of liberation, and our demerits are erased. ||1||
O Siblings of Destiny, without the Guru, there is no spiritual wisdom.
Go and ask Brahma, Naarad and Vyaas, the writer of the Vedas. ||1||Pause||
Know that from the vibration of the Word, we obtain spiritual wisdom and meditation. Through it, we speak the Unspoken.
He is the fruit-bearing Tree, luxuriantly green with abundant shade.
The rubies, jewels and emeralds are in the Guru's Treasury. ||2||
From the Guru's Treasury, we receive the Love of the Immaculate Naam, the Name of the Lord.
We gather in the True Merchandise, through the Perfect Grace of the Infinite.
The True Guru is the Giver of peace, the Dispeller of pain, the Destroyer of demons. ||3||
The terrifying world-ocean is difficult and dreadful; there is no shore on this side or the one beyond.
There is no boat, no raft, no oars and no boatman.
The True Guru is the only boat on this terrifying ocean. His Glance of Grace carries us across. ||4||
If I forget my Beloved, even for an instant, suffering overtakes me and peace departs.
Let that tongue be burnt in flames, which does not chant the Naam with love.
When the pitcher of the body bursts, there is terrible pain; those who are caught by the Minister of Death regret and repent. ||5||
Crying out, "Mine! Mine!", they have departed, but their bodies, their wealth, and their wives did not go with them.
Without the Name, wealth is useless; deceived by wealth, they have lost their way.
So serve the True Lord; become Gurmukh, and speak the Unspoken. ||6||
Coming and going, people wander through reincarnation; they act according to their past actions.
How can one's pre-ordained destiny be erased? It is written in accordance with the Lord's Will.
Without the Name of the Lord, no one can be saved. Through the Guru's Teachings, we are united in His Union. ||7||
Without Him, I have no one to call my own. My soul and my breath of life belong to Him.
May my egotism and possessiveness be burnt to ashes, and my greed and egotistical pride consigned to the fire.
O Nanak, contemplating the Shabad, the Treasure of Excellence is obtained. ||8||10||
Siree Raag, First Mehl:
O mind, love the Lord, as the lotus loves the water.
Tossed about by the waves, it still blossoms with love.
In the water, the creatures are created; outside of the water they die. ||1||
✦ 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.”
Humility & Surrender
Bhagavad Gita 18:66
“Abandon all varieties of dharma and simply surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions; do not fear.”
Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Tao Te Ching 22
“If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become full, let yourself be empty.”
Quran 2:45
“Seek help through patience and prayer. It is indeed exacting, but not for those who are humble.”