Ang-1301 — Chapter 117
O Nanak, when someone dies in the Word of the Shabad, the mind is pleased and appeased. True is the reputation of those who are true. ||33||
Emotional attachment to Maya is a treacherous ocean of pain and poison, which cannot be crossed.
Screaming, "Mine, mine!", they rot and die; they pass their lives in egotism.
The self-willed manmukhs are in limbo, neither on this side, nor the other; they are stuck in the middle.
They act as they are pre-destined; they cannot do anything else.
Following the Guru's Teachings, the jewel of spiritual wisdom abides in the mind, and then God is easily seen in all.
O Nanak, the very fortunate ones embark on the Boat of the True Guru; they are carried across the terrifying world-ocean. ||34||
Without the True Guru, there is no giver who can bestow the Support of the Lord's Name.
By Guru's Grace, the Name comes to dwell in the mind; keep it enshrined in your heart.
The fire of desire is extinguished, and one finds satisfaction, through the Love of the Name of the Lord.
O Nanak, the Gurmukh finds the Lord, when He showers His Mercy. ||35||
Without the Shabad, the world is so insane, that it cannot even be described.
Those who are protected by the Lord are saved; they remain lovingly attuned to the Word of the Shabad.
O Nanak, the Creator who made this making knows everything. ||36||
The Pandits, the religious scholars, have grown weary of making fire-offerings and sacrifices, making pilgrimages to all the sacred shrines, and reading the Puraanas.
But they cannot get rid of the poison of emotional attachment to Maya; they continue to come and go in egotism.
Meeting with the True Guru, one's filth is washed off, meditating on the Lord, the Primal Being, the All-knowing One.
Servant Nanak is forever a sacrifice to those who serve their Lord God. ||37||
Mortals give great thought to Maya and emotional attachment; they harbor great hopes, in greed and corruption.
The self-willed manmukhs do not become steady and stable; they die and are gone in an instant.
Only those who are blessed with great good fortune meet the True Guru, and leave behind their egotism and corruption.
Chanting the Name of the Lord, they find peace; servant Nanak contemplates the Word of the Shabad. ||38||
Without the True Guru, there is no devotional worship, and no love of the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
Servant Nanak worships and adores the Naam, with love and affection for the Guru. ||39||
Do not trust greedy people, if you can avoid doing so.
At the very last moment, they will deceive you there, where no one will be able to lend a helping hand.
Whoever associates with the self-willed manmukhs, will have his face blackened and dirtied.
Black are the faces of those greedy people; they lose their lives, and leave in disgrace.
O Lord, let me join the Sat Sangat, the True Congregation; may the Name of the Lord God abide in my mind.
The filth and pollution of birth and death is washed away, O servant Nanak, singing the Glorious Praises of the Lord. ||40||
Whatever is pre-destined by the Lord God Creator, cannot be erased.
Body and soul are all His. The Sovereign Lord King cherishes all.
The gossipers and slanderers shall remain hungry and die, rolling in the dust; their hands cannot reach anywhere.
Outwardly, they do all the proper deeds, but they are hypocrites; in their minds and hearts, they practice deception and fraud.
Whatever is planted in the farm of the body, shall come and stand before them 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.”
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.”
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.”