CONTD FROM Vol 7 ISSUE 41 Preparing the field of the body, he plants the Seed of the Creator. One knows the Truth only when he receives true instruction. Showing mercy to other beings, he makes donations to charities. One knows the Truth only when he dwells in the sacred shrine of pilgrimage of his own soul. He sits and receives instruction from the True Guru, and lives in accordance with His Will. Truth is the medicine for all; it removes and washes away our sins. Nanak speaks this prayer to those who have Truth in their laps. || 2 || PAUREE: The gift I seek is the dust of the feet of the Saints; if I were to obtain it, I would apply it to my forehead. Renounce false greed, and meditate single-mindedly on the unseen Lord. As are the actions we commit, so are the rewards we receive. If it is so preordained, then one obtains the dust of the feet of the Saints. But through smallmindedness, we forfeit the merits of selfless service. || 10 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: There is a famine of Truth; falsehood prevails, and the blackness of the Dark Age of Kali Yuga has turned men into demons. Those who planted their seed have departed with honor; now, how can the shattered seed sprout? If the seed is whole, and it is the proper season, then the seed will sprout.

O Nanak, without treatment, the raw fabric cannot be dyed. In the Fear of God it is bleached white, if the treatment of modesty is applied to the cloth of the body. O Nanak, if one is imbued with devotional worship, his reputation is not false. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: Greed and sin are the king and prime minister; falsehood is the treasurer. Sexual desire, the chief advisor, is summoned and consulted; they all sit together and contemplate their plans. Their subjects are blind, and without wisdom, they try to please the will of the dead. The spiritually wise dance and play their musical instruments, adorning themselves with beautiful decorations. They shout out loud, and sing epic poems and heroic stories. The fools call themselves spiritual scholars, and by their clever tricks, they love to gather wealth. The righteous waste their righteousness, by asking for the door of salvation. They call themselves celibate, and abandon their homes, but they do not know the true way of life. Everyone calls himself perfect; none call themselves imperfect. If the weight of honor is placed on the scale, then, O Nanak, one sees his true weight. || 2 || FIRST MEHL: Evil actions become publicly known; O Nanak, the True Lord sees everything. Everyone makes the attempt, but that alone happens which the Creator Lord does. In the world hereafter, social status and power mean nothing; hereafter, the soul is new. Those few, whose honor is confirmed, are good.

|| 3 || PAUREE: Only those whose karma You have pre-ordained from the very beginning, O Lord, meditate on You. Nothing is in the power of these beings; You created the various worlds. Some, You unite with Yourself, and some, You lead astray. By Guru’s Grace You are known; through Him, You reveal Yourself.We are easily absorbed in You. || 11 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: Suffering is the medicine, and pleasure the disease, because where there is pleasure, there is no desire for God. You are the Creator Lord; I can do nothing. Even if I try, nothing happens. || 1 || I am a sacrifice to Your almighty creative power which is pervading everywhere. Your limits cannot be known. || 1 || Pause || Your Light is in Your creatures, and Your creatures are in Your Light; Your almighty power is pervading everywhere. You are the True Lord and Master; Your Praise is so beautiful. One who sings it, is carried across. Nanak speaks the stories of the Creator Lord; whatever He is to do, He does. || 2 || SECOND MEHL: The Way of Yoga is the Way of spiritual wisdom; the Vedas are the Way of the Brahmins. The Way of the Khshatriya is the Way of bravery; the Way of the Shudras is service to others. The Way of all is the Way of the One; Nanak is a slave to one who knows this secret; he himself is the Immaculate Divine Lord. || 3 || SECOND MEHL: The One Lord Krishna is the Divine Lord of all; He is the Divinity of the individual soul. Nanak is a slave to anyone who understands this mystery of the allpervading Lord; he himself is the Immaculate Divine Lord.

|| 4 || FIRST MEHL: Water remains confined within the pitcher, but without water, the pitcher could not have been formed; just so, the mind is restrained by spiritual wisdom, but without the Guru, there is no spiritual wisdom. || 5 || PAUREE: If an educated person is a sinner, then the illiterate holy man is not to be punished. As are the deeds done, so is the reputation one acquires. So do not play such a game, which will bring you to ruin at the Court of the Lord. The accounts of the educated and the illiterate shall be judged in the world hereafter. One who stubbornly follows his own mind shall suffer in the world hereafter. || 12 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: O Nanak, the soul of the body has one chariot and one charioteer. In age after age they change; the spiritually wise understand this. In the Golden Age of Sat Yuga, contentment was the chariot and righteousness the charioteer. In the Silver Age of Traytaa Yuga, celibacy was the chariot and power the charioteer. In the Brass Age of Dwaapar Yuga, penance was the chariot and truth the charioteer. In the Iron Age of Kali Yuga, fire is the chariot and falsehood the charioteer. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: The Sama Veda says that the Lord Master is robed in white; in the Age of Truth, everyone desired Truth, abided in Truth, and was merged in the Truth. The Rig Veda says that God is permeating and pervading everywhere; among the deities, the Lord’s Name is the most exalted. Chanting the Name, sins depart; O Nanak, then, one obtains salvation.

In the Jujar Veda, Kaan Krishna of the Yaadva tribe seduced Chandraavali by force. He brought the Elysian Tree for his milk-maid, and revelled in Brindaaban. In the Dark Age of Kali Yuga, the Atharva Veda became prominent; Allah became the Name of God. Men began to wear blue robes and garments; Turks and Pat’haans assumed power. The four Vedas each claim to be true. Reading and studying them, four doctrines are found.With loving devotional worship, abiding in humility, O Nanak, salvation is attained. || 2 || PAUREE: I am a sacrifice to the True Guru; meeting Him, I have come to cherish the Lord Master. He has taught me and given me the healing ointment of spiritual wisdom, and with these eyes, I behold the world. Those dealers who abandon their Lord and Master and attach themselves to another, are drowned. The True Guru is the boat, but few are those who realize this. Granting His Grace, He carries them across. || 13 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: The simmal tree is straight as an arrow; it is very tall, and very thick. But those birds which visit it hopefully, depart disappointed. Its fruits are tasteless, its flowers are nauseating, and its leaves are useless. Sweetness and humility, O Nanak, are the essence of virtue and goodness. Everyone bows down to himself; no one bows down to another. When something is placed on the balancing scale and weighed, the side which descends is heavier.

The sinner, like the deer hunter, bows down twice as much. But what can be achieved by bowing the head, when the heart is impure? || 1 || FIRST MEHL: You read your books and say your prayers, and then engage in debate; you worship stones and sit like a stork, pretending to be in Samaadhi.With your mouth you utter falsehood, and you adorn yourself with precious decorations; you recite the three lines of the Gayatri three times a day. Around your neck is a rosary, and on your forehead is a sacred mark; upon your head is a turban, and you wear two loin cloths. If you knew the nature of God, you would know that all of these beliefs and rituals are in vain. Says Nanak, meditate with deep faith; without the True Guru, no one finds the Way. || 2 || PAUREE: Abandoning the world of beauty, and beautiful clothes, one must depart. He obtains the rewards of his good and bad deeds. He may issue whatever commands he wishes, but he shall have to take to the narrow path hereafter. He goes to hell naked, and he looks hideous then. He regrets the sins he committed. || 14 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: Make compassion the cotton, contentment the thread, modesty the knot and truth the twist. This is the sacred thread of the soul; if you have it, then go ahead and put it on me. It does not break, it cannot be soiled by filth, it cannot be burnt, or lost.

Blessed are those mortal beings, O Nanak, who wear such a thread around their necks. You buy the thread for a few shells, and seated in your enclosure, you put it on. Whispering instructions into others’ ears, the Brahmin becomes a guru. But he dies, and the sacred thread falls away, and the soul departs without it. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: He commits thousands of robberies, thousands of acts of adultery, thousands of falsehoods and thousands of abuses. He practices thousands of deceptions and secret deeds, night and day, against his fellow beings. The thread is spun from cotton, and the Brahmin comes and twists it. The goat is killed, cooked and eaten, and everyone then says, “Put on the sacred thread.” When it wears out, it is thrown away, and another one is put on. O Nanak, the thread would not break, if it had any real strength. || 2 || FIRST MEHL: Believing in the Name, honor is obtained. The Lord’s Praise is the true sacred thread. Such a sacred thread is worn in the Court of the Lord; it shall never break. || 3 || FIRST MEHL: There is no sacred thread for the sexual organ, and no thread for woman. The man’s beard is spat upon daily. There is no sacred thread for the feet, and no thread for the hands; no thread for the tongue, and no thread for the eyes. The Brahmin himself goes to the world hereafter without a sacred thread.

Twisting the threads, he puts them on others. He takes payment for performing marriages; reading their horoscopes, he shows them the way. Hear, and see, O people, this wondrous thing. He is mentally blind, and yet his name is wisdom. || 4 || PAUREE: One, upon whom the Merciful Lord bestows His Grace, performs His service. That servant, whom the Lord causes to obey the Order of His Will, serves Him. Obeying the Order of His Will, he becomes acceptable, and then, he obtains the Mansion of the Lord’s Presence. One who acts to please His Lord and Master, obtains the fruits of his mind’s desires. Then, he goes to the Court of the Lord, wearing robes of honor. || 15 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: They tax the cows and the Brahmins, but the cow-dung they apply to their kitchen will not save them. They wear their loin cloths, apply ritual frontal marks to their foreheads, and carry their rosaries, but they eat food with the Muslims.