Ang-701 — Chapter 87
By wearing her red dress, no one has found her Husband Lord; the self-willed manmukh is burnt to death.
Meeting the True Guru, she discards her red dress, and eradicates egotism from within.
Her mind and body are imbued with the deep red color of His Love, and her tongue is imbued, singing His Praises and excellences.
She becomes His soul-bride forever, with the Word of the Shabad in her mind; she makes the Fear of God and the Love of God her ornaments and decorations.
O Nanak, by His Merciful Grace, she obtains the Mansion of the Lord's Presence, and keeps Him enshrined in her heart. ||1||
Third Mehl:
O bride, forsake your red dress, and decorate yourself with the crimson color of His Love.
Your comings and goings shall be forgotten, contemplating the Word of the Guru's Shabad.
The soul-bride is adorned and beautiful; the Celestial Lord, her Husband, abides in her home.
O Nanak, the bride ravishes and enjoys Him; and He, the Ravisher, ravishes and enjoys her. ||2||
Pauree:
The foolish, self-willed manmukh is engrossed in false attachment to family.
Practicing egotism and self-conceit, he dies and departs, taking nothing along with him.
He does not understand that the Messenger of Death is hovering over his head; he is deluded by duality.
This opportunity will not come into his hands again; the Messenger of Death will seize him.
He acts according to his pre-ordained destiny. ||5||
Salok, Third Mehl:
Do not call them 'satee', who burn themselves along with their husbands' corpses.
O Nanak, they alone are known as 'satee', who die from the shock of separation. ||1||
Third Mehl:
They are also known as 'satee', who abide in modesty and contentment.
They serve their Lord, and rise in the early hours to contemplate Him. ||2||
Third Mehl:
The widows burn themselves in the fire, along with their husbands' corpses.
If they truly knew their husbands, then they suffer terrible bodily pain.
O Nanak, if they did not truly know their husbands, why should they burn themselves in the fire?
Whether their husbands are alive or dead, those wives remain far away from them. ||3||
Pauree:
You created pain along with pleasure; O Creator, such is the writ You have written.
There is no other gift as great as the Name; it has no form or sign.
The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is an inexhaustible treasure; it abides in the mind of the Gurmukh.
In His Mercy, He blesses us with the Naam, and then, the writ of pain and pleasure is not written.
Those humble servants who serve with love, meet the Lord, chanting the Chant of the Lord. ||6||
Salok, Second Mehl:
They know that they will have to depart, so why do they make such ostentatious displays?
Those who do not know that they will have to depart, continue to arrange their affairs. ||1||
Second Mehl:
He accumulates wealth during the night of his life, but in the morning, he must depart.
O Nanak, it shall not go along with him, and so he regrets. ||2||
Second Mehl:
Paying a fine under pressure, does not bring either merit or goodness.
That alone is a good deed, O Nanak, which is done by one's own free will. ||3||
Second Mehl:
Stubborn-mindedness will not win the Lord to one's side, no matter how much it is tried.
The Lord is won over to your side, by offering Him your true love, O servant Nanak, and contemplating the Word of the Shabad. ||4||
Pauree:
The Creator created the world; He alone understands it.
He Himself created the Universe, and He Himself shall destroy it afterwards.
✦ 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.”
Divine Compassion & Mercy
Quran 1:1
“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Psalm 23:1
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
Luke 6:36
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Snp 1.8
“As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate a limitless heart with regard to all beings.”
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.”
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.”