CONTD FROM Vol 7 ISSUE 39 AASAA, FIFTH MEHL, CHHANT, EIGHTH HOUSE: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: Maya is the wall of doubt – Maya is the wall of doubt. It is such a powerful and destructive intoxicant; it corrupts and wastes away one’s life. In the terrible, impenetrable world-forest – in the terrible, impenetrable world-forest, the thieves are plundering man’s house in broad daylight; night and day, this life is being consumed. The days of your life are being consumed; they are passing away without God. So meet God, the Merciful Lord. I passed through so many births and deaths; without Union with the Beloved, I did not obtain salvation. I am without the status of high birth, beauty, glory or spiritual wisdom; without You, who is mine, O Mother? With my palms pressed together, O Nanak, I enter the Lord’s Sanctuary; O beloved almighty Lord and Master, please, save me!

|| 1 || Like a fish out of water – like a fish out of water, separated from the Lord, the mind and body perish; how can I live, without my Beloved? Facing the arrow head-on – facing the arrow head-on, the deer surrenders his mind, body and breath of life; he is struck by the hunter’s soothing music. I have enshrined love for my Beloved. In order to meet Him, I have become a renunciate. Cursed is that body which remains without Him, even for an instant. My eyelids do not close, for I am absorbed in the love of my Beloved. Day and night, my mind thinks only of God. Attuned to the Lord, intoxicated with the Naam, fear, doubt and duality have all left me. Bestow Your mercy and compassion, O merciful and perfect Lord, that Nanak may be intoxicated with Your Love. || 2 || The bumble-bee is buzzing – the bumble-bee is buzzing, intoxicated with the honey, the flavor and the fragrance; because of its love for the lotus, it entangles itself. The mind of the sparrowhawk thirsts – the mind of the sparrowhawk thirsts; its mind longs for the beautiful rain-drops from the clouds. Drinking them in, its fever departs. O Destroyer of fever, Remover of pain, please unite me with You. My mind and body have such great love for You. O my beautiful, wise and all-knowing Lord and Master, with what tongue should I chant Your Praises? Take me by the arm, and grant me Your Name. One who is blessed with Your Glance of Grace, has his sins erased. Nanak meditates on the Lord, the Purifier of sinners; beholding His Vision, he suffers no more.

|| 3 || I focus my consciousness on the Lord – I focus my consciousness upon the Lord; I am helpless – please, keep me under Your Protection. I yearn to meet You, my soul hungers for You. I meditate on Your beautiful body – I meditate on Your beautiful body; my mind is fascinated by Your spiritual wisdom, O Lord of the world. Please, preserve the honor of Your humble servants and beggars. God bestows perfect honor and destroys pain; He has fulfilled all my desires. How very blessed was that day when the Lord embraced me; meeting my Husband Lord, my bed was beautified. When God granted His Grace and met me, all my sins were erased. Prays Nanak, my hopes are fulfilled; I have met the Lord, the Lord of Lakshmi, the treasure of excellence. || 4 || 1 || 14 || ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. TRUTH IS THE NAME. CREATIVE BEING PERSONIFIED. NO FEAR. NO HATRED. IMAGE OF THE UNDYING. BEYOND BIRTH. SELF-EXISTENT. BY GURU’S GRACE: AASAA, FIRST MEHL: VAAR WITH SHALOKS, AND SHALOKS WRITTEN BY THE FIRST MEHL. TO BE SUNG TO THE TUNE OF ‘TUNDA-ASRAAJAA’: SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: A hundred times a day, I am a sacrifice to my Guru; He made angels out of men, without delay. || 1 || SECOND MEHL: If a hundred moons were to rise, and a thousand suns appeared, even with such light, there would still be pitch darkness without the Guru.

|| 2 || FIRST MEHL: O Nanak, those who do not think of the Guru, and who think of themselves as clever, shall be left abandoned in the field, like the scattered sesame. They are abandoned in the field, says Nanak, and they have a hundred masters to please. The wretches bear fruit and flower, but within their bodies, they are filled with ashes. || 3 || PAUREE: He Himself created Himself; He Himself assumed His Name. Secondly, He fashioned the creation; seated within the creation, He beholds it with delight. You Yourself are the Giver and the Creator; by Your Pleasure, You bestow Your Mercy. You are the Knower of all; You give life, and take it away again with a word. Seated within the creation, You behold it with delight. || 1 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: True are Your worlds, True are Your solar Systems. True are Your realms, True is Your creation. True are Your actions, and all Your deliberations. True is Your Command, and True is Your Court. True is the Command of Your Will, True is Your Order. True is Your Mercy, True is Your Insignia. Hundreds of thousands and millions call You True. In the True Lord is all power, in the True Lord is all might. True is Your Praise, True is Your Adoration. True is Your almighty creative power, True King. O Nanak, true are those who meditate on the True One.

|| 1 || FIRST MEHL: Great is His greatness, as great as His Name. Great is His greatness, as True is His justice. Great is His greatness, as permanent as His Throne. Great is His greatness, as He knows our utterances. Great is His greatness, as He understands all our affections. Great is His greatness, as He gives without being asked. Great is His greatness, as He Himself is all-in-all. O Nanak, His actions cannot be described. Whatever He has done, or will do, is all by His Own Will. || 2 || SECOND MEHL: This world is the room of the True Lord; within it is the dwelling of the True Lord. By His Command, some are merged into Him, and some, by His Command, are destroyed. Some, by the Pleasure of His Will, are lifted up out of Maya, while others are made to dwell within it. No one can say who will be rescued. O Nanak, he alone is known as Gurmukh, unto whom the Lord reveals Himself. || 3 || PAUREE: O Nanak, having created the souls, the Lord installed the Righteous Judge of Dharma to read and record their accounts. There, only the Truth is judged true; the sinners are picked out and separated. The false find no place there, and they go to hell with their faces blackened. Those who are imbued with Your Name win, while the cheaters lose. The Lord installed the Righteous Judge of Dharma to read and record the accounts.

|| 2 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: Wonderful is the sound current of the Naad, wonderful is the knowledge of the Vedas.Wonderful are the beings, wonderful are the species.Wonderful are the forms, wonderful are the colors. Wonderful are the beings who wander around naked. Wonderful is the wind, wonderful is the water.Wonderful is fire, which works wonders.Wonderful is the earth, wonderful the sources of creation. Wonderful are the tastes to which mortals are attached.Wonderful is union, and wonderful is separation.Wonderful is hunger, wonderful is satisfaction. Wonderful is His Praise, wonderful is His adoration.Wonderful is the wilderness, wonderful is the path.Wonderful is closeness, wonderful is distance. How wonderful to behold the Lord, ever-present here. Beholding His wonders, I am wonder-struck. O Nanak, those who understand this are blessed with perfect destiny. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: By His Power we see, by His Power we hear; by His Power we have fear, and the essence of happiness. By His Power the nether worlds exist, and the Akaashic ethers; by His Power the entire creation exists. By His Power the Vedas and the Puraanas exist, and the Holy Scriptures of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. By His Power all deliberations exist. By His Power we eat, drink and dress; by His Power all love exists. By His Power come the species of all kinds and colors; by His Power the living beings of the world exist. By His Power virtues exist, and by His Power vices exist. By His Power come honor and dishonor. By His Power wind, water and fire exist; by His Power earth and dust exist.

Everything is in Your Power, Lord; You are the all-powerful Creator. Your Name is the Holiest of the Holy. O Nanak, through the Command of His Will, He beholds and pervades the creation; He is absolutely unrivalled. || 2 || PAUREE: Enjoying his pleasures, one is reduced to a pile of ashes, and the soul passes away. He may be great, but when he dies, the chain is thrown around his neck, and he is led away. There, his good and bad deeds are added up; sitting there, his account is read. He is whipped, but finds no place of rest, and no one hears his cries of pain. The blind man has wasted his life away. || 3 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: In the Fear of God, the wind and breezes ever blow. In the Fear of God, thousands of rivers flow. In the Fear of God, fire is forced to labor. In the Fear of God, the earth is crushed under its burden. In the Fear of God, the clouds move across the sky. In the Fear of God, the Righteous Judge of Dharma stands at His Door. In the Fear of God, the sun shines, and in the Fear of God, the moon reflects. They travel millions of miles, endlessly. In the Fear of God, the Siddhas exist, as do the Buddhas, the demi-gods and Yogis. In the Fear of God, the Akaashic ethers are stretched across the sky. In the Fear of God, the warriors and the most powerful heroes exist. In the Fear of God, multitudes come and go. God has inscribed the Inscription of His Fear upon the heads of all. O Nanak, the Fearless Lord, the Formless Lord, the True Lord, is One.

|| 1 || FIRST MEHL: O Nanak, the Lord is fearless and formless; myriads of others, like Rama, are mere dust before Him. There are so many stories of Krishna, so many who reflect over the Vedas. So many beggars dance, spinning around to the beat. The magicians perform their magic in the market place, creating a false illusion.They sing as kings and queens, and speak of this and that. They wear earrings, and necklaces worth thousands of dollars. Those bodies on which they are worn, O Nanak, those bodies turn to ashes. Wisdom cannot be found through mere words. To explain it is as hard as iron. When the Lord bestows His Grace, then alone it is received; other tricks and orders are useless. || 2 || PAUREE: If the Merciful Lord shows His Mercy, then the True Guru is found. This soul wandered through countless incarnations, until the True Guru instructed it in the Word of the Shabad. There is no giver as great as the True Guru; hear this, all you people. Meeting the True Guru, the True Lord is found;