Ang-801 — Chapter 78
has the wisdom of the six Shaastras. ||4||5||
Raamkalee, First Mehl:
My boat is wobbly and unsteady; it is filled with sins. The wind is rising - what if it tips over?
As sunmukh, I have turned to the Guru; O my Perfect Master; please be sure to bless me with Your glorious greatness. ||1||
O Guru, my Saving Grace, please carry me across the world-ocean.
Bless me with devotion to the perfect, imperishable Lord God; I am a sacrifice to You. ||1||Pause||
He alone is a Siddha, a seeker, a Yogi, a wandering pilgrim, who meditates on the One Perfect Lord.
Touching the feet of the Lord Master, they are emancipated; they come to receive the Word of the Teachings. ||2||
I know nothing of charity, meditation, self-discipline or religious rituals; I only chant Your Name, God.
Nanak has met the Guru, the Transcendent Lord God; through the True Word of His Shabad, he is set free. ||3||6||
Raamkalee, First Mehl:
Focus your consciousness in deep absorption on the Lord.
Make your body a raft, to cross over.
Deep within is the fire of desire; keep it in check.
Day and night, that lamp shall burn unceasingly. ||1||
Float such a lamp upon the water;
this lamp will bring total understanding. ||1||Pause||
This understanding is good clay;
a lamp made of such clay is acceptable to the Lord.
So shape this lamp on the wheel of good actions.
In this world and in the next, this lamp shall be with you. ||2||
When He Himself grants His Grace,
then, as Gurmukh, one may understand Him.
Within the heart, this lamp is permanently lit.
It is not extinguished by water or wind.
Such a lamp will carry you across the water. ||3||
Wind does not shake it, or put it out.
Its light reveals the Divine Throne.
The Kh'shaatriyas, Brahmins, Soodras and Vaishyas
cannot find its value, even by thousands of calculations.
If any of them lights such a lamp,
O Nanak, he is emancipated. ||4||7||
Raamkalee, First Mehl:
To place one's faith in Your Name, Lord, is true worship.
With an offering of Truth, one obtains a place to sit.
If a prayer is offered with truth and contentment,
the Lord will hear it, and call him in to sit by Him. ||1||
O Nanak, no one returns empty-handed;
such is the Court of the True Lord. ||1||Pause||
The treasure I seek is the gift of Your Grace.
Please bless this humble beggar - this is what I seek.
Please, pour Your Love into the cup of my heart.
This is Your pre-determined value. ||2||
The One who created everything, does everything.
He Himself appraises His own value.
The Sovereign Lord King becomes manifest to the Gurmukh.
He does not come, and He does not go. ||3||
People curse at the beggar; by begging, he does not receive honor.
O Lord, You inspire me to speak Your Words, and tell the Story of Your Court. ||4||8||
Raamkalee, First Mehl:
The drop is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the drop. Who understands, and knows this?
He Himself creates the wondrous play of the world. He Himself contemplates it, and understands its true essence. ||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.”
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.”