Ang-1, Chapter 282
This is Ang-1, chapter 282, a sacred text in the Sikhism tradition. You can read it here verse by verse for free, listen to it read aloud, and follow cross-references that connect its themes to other traditions.
He Himself is All-in-Himself.
In His many ways, He establishes and disestablishes.
He is Imperishable; nothing can be broken.
He lends His Support to maintain the Universe.
Unfathomable and Inscrutable is the Glory of the Lord.
As He inspires us to meditate, O Nanak, so do we meditate. ||6||
Those who know God are glorious.
The whole world is redeemed by their teachings.
God's servants redeem all.
God's servants cause sorrows to be forgotten.
The Merciful Lord unites them with Himself.
Chanting the Word of the Guru's Shabad, they become ecstatic.
He alone is committed to serve them,
upon whom God bestows His Mercy, by great good fortune.
Those who chant the Naam find their place of rest.
O Nanak, respect those persons as the most noble. ||7||
Whatever you do, do it for the Love of God.
Forever and ever, abide with the Lord.
By its own natural course, whatever will be will be.
Acknowledge that Creator Lord;
God's doings are sweet to His humble servant.
As He is, so does He appear.
From Him we came, and into Him we shall merge again.
He is the treasure of peace, and so does His servant become.
Unto His own, He has given His honor.
O Nanak, know that God and His humble servant are one and the same. ||8||14||
Salok:
God is totally imbued with all powers; He is the Knower of our troubles.
Meditating in remembrance on Him, we are saved; Nanak is a sacrifice to Him. ||1||
Ashtapadee:
The Lord of the World is the Mender of the broken.
He Himself cherishes all beings.
The cares of all are on His Mind;
no one is turned away from Him.
O my mind, meditate forever on the Lord.
The Imperishable Lord God is Himself All-in-all.
By one's own actions, nothing is accomplished,
even though the mortal may wish it so, hundreds of times.
Without Him, nothing is of any use to you.
Salvation, O Nanak, is attained by chanting the Name of the One Lord. ||1||
One who is good-looking should not be vain;
the Light of God is in all hearts.
Why should anyone be proud of being rich?
All riches are His gifts.
One may call himself a great hero,
but without God's Power, what can anyone do?
One who brags about giving to charities
the Great Giver shall judge him to be a fool.
One who, by Guru's Grace, is cured of the disease of ego
- O Nanak, that person is forever healthy. ||2||
As a palace is supported by its pillars,
so does the Guru's Word support the mind.
As a stone placed in a boat can cross over the river,
so is the mortal saved, grasping hold of the Guru's Feet.
As the darkness is illuminated by the lamp,
so does the mind blossom forth, beholding the Blessed Vision of the Guru's Darshan.
The path is found through the great wilderness by joining the Saadh Sangat,
The Company of the Holy, and one's light shines forth.
I seek the dust of the feet of those Saints;
O Lord, fulfill Nanak's longing! ||3||
O foolish mind, why do you cry and bewail?
✦ 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.”