CONTD FROM Vol 7 ISSUE 40 He removes self-conceit from within, and instructs us in the Truth of Truths. || 4 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: All the hours are the milk-maids, and the quarters of the day are the Krishnas. The wind, water and fire are the ornaments; the sun and moon are the incarnations. All of the earth, property, wealth and articles are all entanglements. O Nanak, without divine knowledge, one is plundered, and devoured by the Messenger of Death. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: The disciples play the music, and the gurus dance. They move their feet and roll their heads. The dust flies and falls upon their hair. Beholding them, the people laugh, and then go home. They beat the drums for the sake of bread. They throw themselves upon the ground. They sing of the milk-maids, they sing of the Krishnas. They sing of Sitas, and Ramas and kings. The Lord is fearless and formless; His Name is True. The entire universe is His Creation. Those servants, whose destiny is awakened, serve the Lord. The night of their lives is cool with dew; their minds are filled with love for the Lord. Contemplating the Guru, I have been taught these teachings; granting His Grace, He carries His servants across.

The oil-press, the spinning wheel, the grinding stones, the potter’s wheel, the numerous, countless whirlwinds in the desert, the spinning tops, the churning sticks, the threshers, the breathless tumblings of the birds, and the men moving round and round on spindles – O Nanak, the tumblers are countless and endless. The Lord binds us in bondage – so do we spin around. According to their actions, so do all people dance. Those who dance and dance and laugh, shall weep on their ultimate departure. They do not fly to the heavens, nor do they become Siddhas. They dance and jump around on the urgings of their minds. O Nanak, those whose minds are filled with the Fear of God, have the love of God in their minds as well. || 2 || PAUREE: Your Name is the Fearless Lord; chanting Your Name, one does not have to go to hell. Soul and body all belong to Him; asking Him to give us sustenance is a waste. If you yearn for goodness, then perform good deeds and feel humble. Even if you remove the signs of old age, old age shall still come in the guise of death. No one remains here when the count of the breaths is full. || 5 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: The Muslims praise the Islamic law; they read and reflect upon it.

The Lord’s bound servants are those who bind themselves to see the Lord’s Vision. The Hindus praise the Praiseworthy Lord; the Blessed Vision of His Darshan, His form is incomparable. They bathe at sacred shrines of pilgrimage, making offerings of flowers, and burning incense before idols. The Yogis meditate on the absolute Lord there; they call the Creator the Unseen Lord. But to the subtle image of the Immaculate Name, they apply the form of a body. In the minds of the virtuous, contentment is produced, thinking about their giving. They give and give, but ask a thousand-fold more, and hope that the world will honor them. The thieves, adulterers, perjurers, evildoers and sinners – after using up what good karma they had, they depart; have they done any good deeds here at all? There are beings and creatures in the water and on the land, in the worlds and universes, form upon form. Whatever they say, You know; You care for them all. O Nanak, the hunger of the devotees is to praise You; the True Name is their only support. They live in eternal bliss, day and night; they are the dust of the feet of the virtuous. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: The clay of the Muslim’s grave becomes clay for the potter’s wheel. Pots and bricks are fashioned from it, and it cries out as it burns. The poor clay burns, burns and weeps, as the fiery coals fall upon it. O Nanak, the Creator created the creation; the Creator Lord alone knows.

|| 2 || PAUREE: Without the True Guru, no one has obtained the Lord; without the True Guru, no one has obtained the Lord. He has placed Himself within the True Guru; revealing Himself, He declares this openly. Meeting the True Guru, eternal liberation is obtained; He has banished attachment from within. This is the highest thought, that one’s consciousness is attached to the True Lord. Thus the Lord of the World, the Great Giver is obtained. || 6 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: In ego they come, and in ego they go. In ego they are born, and in ego they die. In ego they give, and in ego they take. In ego they earn, and in ego they lose. In ego they become truthful or false. In ego they go to heaven or hell. In ego they laugh, and in ego they weep. In ego they become dirty, and in ego they are washed clean. In ego they lose social status and class. In ego they are ignorant, and in ego they are wise. They do not know the value of salvation and liberation. In ego they love Maya, and in ego they are kept in darkness by it. Living in ego, mortal beings are created. When one understands ego, then the Lord’s gate is known. Without spiritual wisdom, they babble and argue. O Nanak, by the Lord’s Command, destiny is recorded. As the Lord sees us, so are we seen.

|| 1 || SECOND MEHL: This is the nature of ego, that people perform their actions in ego. This is the bondage of ego, that time and time again, they are reborn. Where does ego come from? How can it be removed? This ego exists by the Lord’s Order; people wander according to their past actions. Ego is a chronic disease, but it contains its own cure as well. If the Lord grants His Grace, one acts according to the Teachings of the Guru’s Shabad. Nanak says, listen, people: in this way, troubles depart. || 2 || PAUREE: Those who serve are content. They meditate on the Truest of the True. They do not place their feet in sin, but do good deeds and live righteously in Dharma. They burn away the bonds of the world, and eat a simple diet of grain and water. You are the Great Forgiver; You give continually, more and more each day. By His greatness, the Great Lord is obtained. || 7 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: Men, trees, sacred shrines of pilgrimage, banks of sacred rivers, clouds, fields, islands, continents, worlds, solar systems, and universes; the four sources of creation – born of eggs, born of the womb, born of the earth and born of sweat; oceans, mountains, and all beings – O Nanak, He alone knows their condition.

O Nanak, having created the living beings, He cherishes them all. The Creator who created the creation, takes care of it as well. He, the Creator who formed the world, cares for it. Unto Him I bow and offer my reverence; His Royal Court is eternal. O Nanak, without the True Name, of what use is the frontal mark of the Hindus, or their sacred thread? || 1 || FIRST MEHL: Hundreds of thousands of virtues and good actions, and hundreds of thousands of blessed charities, hundreds of thousands of penances at sacred shrines, and the practice of Sehj Yoga in the wilderness, hundreds of thousands of courageous actions and giving up the breath of life on the field of battle, hundreds of thousands of divine understandings, hundreds of thousands of divine wisdoms and meditations and readings of the Vedas and the Puraanas – before the Creator who created the creation, and who ordained coming and going, O Nanak, all these things are false. True is the Insignia of His Grace. || 2 || PAUREE: You alone are the True Lord. The Truth of Truths is pervading everywhere. He alone receives the Truth, unto whom You give it; then, he practices Truth. Meeting the True Guru, Truth is found. In His Heart, Truth is abiding. The fools do not know the Truth. The self-willed manmukhs waste their lives away in vain. Why have they even come into the world? || 8 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: You may read and read loads of books; you may read and study vast multitudes of books.

You may read and read boat-loads of books; you may read and read and fill pits with them. You may read them year after year; you may read them as many months are there are. You may read them all your life; you may read them with every breath. O Nanak, only one thing is of any account: everything else is useless babbling and idle talk in ego. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: The more one write and reads, the more one burns. The more one wanders at sacred shrines of pilgrimage, the more one talks uselessly. The more one wears religious robes, the more pain he causes his body. O my soul, you must endure the consequences of your own actions. One who does not eat the corn, misses out on the taste. One obtains great pain, in the love of duality. One who does not wear any clothes, suffers night and day. Through silence, he is ruined. How can the sleeping one be awakened without the Guru? One who goes barefoot suffers by his own actions. One who eats filth and throws ashes on his head – the blind fool loses his honor. Without the Name, nothing is of any use. One who lives in the wilderness, in cemetaries and cremation grounds – that blind man does not know the Lord; he regrets and repents in the end. One who meets the True Guru finds peace. He enshrines the Name of the Lord in his mind. O Nanak, when the Lord grants His Grace, He is obtained. He becomes free of hope and fear, and burns away his ego with the Word of the Shabad.

|| 2 || PAUREE: Your devotees are pleasing to Your Mind, Lord. They look beautiful at Your door, singing Your Praises. O Nanak, those who are denied Your Grace, find no shelter at Your Door; they continue wandering. Some do not understand their origins, and without cause, they display their self-conceit. I am the Lord’s minstrel, of low social status; others call themselves high caste. I seek those who meditate on You. || 9 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: False is the king, false are the subjects; false is the whole world. False is the mansion, false are the skyscrapers; false are those who live in them. False is gold, and false is silver; false are those who wear them. False is the body, false are the clothes; false is incomparable beauty. False is the husband, false is the wife; they mourn and waste away. The false ones love falsehood, and forget their Creator. With whom should I become friends, if all the world shall pass away? False is sweetness, false is honey; through falsehood, boat-loads of men have drowned. Nanak speaks this prayer: without You, Lord, everything is totally false. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: One knows the Truth only when the Truth is in his heart. The filth of falsehood departs, and the body is washed clean. One knows the Truth only when he bears love to the True Lord. Hearing the Name, the mind is enraptured; then, he attains the gate of salvation. One knows the Truth only when he knows the true way of life.