MARDAANAA: The body is the bottle, self-conceit is the wine, and desire is the company of drinking buddies. The glass of the mind’s longing is filled to overflowing with falsehood; the Messenger of Death is the bartender. Drinking in this wine, O Nanak, one takes on countless vices and corruption. So make spiritual wisdom your molasses, and the Praise of God your bread; let the Fear of God be the dish of meat. O Nanak, this is the true food; let the True Name be your only Support.

|| 2 || If the human body is the pitcher, and selfrealization is the wine, then the Ambrosial Nectar streams down. Joining the Sat Sangat, the True Congregation, the glass of the Lord’s Love is filled with this Ambrosial Nectar; drinking it in, one’s evil and corruption are eradicated. || 3 || PAUREE: He Himself is the angelic being, the heavenly herald, and the celestial singer.

He Himself is the one who explains the six schools of philosophy. He Himself is Shiva, Shankara and Mahaysh; He Himself is the Gurmukh, who speaks the Unspoken Speech. He Himself is the Yogi, He Himself is the Enjoyer of pleasures, and He Himself is the Sannyaasee, wandering through the wilderness. He discusses with Himself, and He teaches Himself; He Himself is discrete, graceful and wise.

Staging His own play, He Himself watches it; He Himself is the Knower of all beings. || 12 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: That prayer is accepted, which brings the Lord God to my consciousness. Love for the Lord wells up within me, and my attachment to Maya is burnt away. By Guru’s Grace, duality is conquered, and the mind becomes stable; I have made contemplative meditation my prayer. O Nanak, the self-willed manmukh may recite his prayers, but his mind is not focused on it; through birth and death, he is ruined.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: I wandered over the whole world, crying out, “Love, O love!”, but my thirst was not quenched. O Nanak, meeting the True Guru, my desires are satisfied; I found my Husband Lord, when I returned to the home of my own inner being. || 2 || PAUREE: He Himself is the supreme essence; He Himself is the essence of all. He Himself is the Lord and Master, and He Himself is the servant.

He Himself created the people of the eighteen castes; God Himself acquired His domain. He Himself kills, and He Himself redeems; He Himself, in His Kindness, forgives us. He is infallible – He never makes mistakes; the True Lord’s justice is totally True. Those whom the Lord Himself instructs as Gurmukh – duality and doubt depart from within them. || 13 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: That body, which does not meditate in remembrance on the Lord’s Name in the Saadh Sangat, shall be reduced to dust.

Cursed and insipid is that body, O Nanak, which does not know the One who created it. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: Let His Lotus Feet abide within your heart, and with your tongue, chant the Name of the Lord of the World. O Nanak, meditate in remembrance on God, and nurture this body of yours. || 2 || PAUREE: The Creator Himself is the sixty-eight sacred places of pilgrimage; He Himself takes the cleansing bath there. He Himself practices austere self-discipline; the Lord and Master Himself inspires us to chant His Name.

He Himself becomes merciful; the Destroyer of fear Himself gives in charity to all. One whom He has enlightened and made Gurmukh, obtains honor forever in His Court. One whose honor is preserved by his Lord and Master, comes to know the True Lord. || 14 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: O Nanak, without meeting the True Guru, the world is blind; in blindness, it does its deeds. It does not focus its consciousness on the Word of the Shabad, which would bring peace to abide in the mind. Always afflicted with the dark passions of low energy, it wanders around, passing its days and nights burning.

Whatever pleases Him, comes to pass; no one has any say in this. || 1 || THIRD MEHL: The True Guru has commanded us to do this: through the Guru’s Gate, meditate on your Lord and Master. The Lord and Master is everpresent. He rips away the veil of doubt, and installs His Light deep within. The Name of the Lord is Ambrosial Nectar – take this healing medicine! Enshrine the Will of the True Guru in your consciousness, and make the Love of the True One your selfdiscipline.

O Nanak, you shall be kept in peace here, and hereafter you shall celebrate with the Lord. || 2 || PAUREE: He Himself is the vast variety of Nature, and He Himself makes it bear fruit. He Himself is the Gardener, He Himself irrigates all the plants, and He Himself puts them in His mouth. He Himself is the Creator, and He Himself is the Enjoyer; He Himself gives, and inspires others to give.

He Himself is the Lord and Master, and He Himself is the Protector; He Himself is pervading everywhere. Servant Nanak speaks of the greatness of the Lord, the Creator, who has no greed at all. || 15 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: One person brings a full bottle, and another comes to fill his cup. Drinking it, his intelligence departs, and madness enters his mind.

He cannot distinguish between his own and others’ – he is struck down by his Lord and Master. Drinking it, he forgets his Lord and Master, and he is punished in the Court of the Lord. Don’t drink the false wine at all, if it is in your power. O Nanak, by His Grace, one obtains the true wine, when the True Guru comes and meets him. He shall dwell forever in the Love of the Lord and Master, and obtain a seat in the Mansion of His Presence.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: One remains dead while yet alive in this world, when he realizes the Lord. When he is put to sleep, he remains asleep; when He is awakened, he regains consciousness. O Nanak, when the Lord casts His Glance of Grace, He causes him to meet the True Guru. By Guru’s Grace, remain dead while yet alive, and you shall not have to die again. || 2 || PAUREE: By His doing, everything happens; what does He care for anyone else? O Dear Lord, everyone eats whatever You give – all are subservient to You.

One who praises You obtains everything, as You grant Your Grace, O Immaculate Lord. He alone is a true banker and trader, who loads the merchandise of the wealth of Your Name, O Lord. O Saints, let everyone praise the Lord, who has destroyed the pile of the love of duality. || 16 || SHALOK: Kabeer, the world is dying – dying to death, but no one knows how to truly die.

Whoever dies – let him die such a death, that he shall never have to die again. || 1 || THIRD MEHL: What do I know? How will I die? What sort of death will it be? If I don’t forget the Lord and Master from my mind, then death will be easy. The world is terrified of death; everyone longs to live. By Guru’s Grace, one who dies while yet alive, understands the Hukam of the Lord’s Command.

O Nanak, one who dies such a death, lives forever. || 2 || PAUREE: When the Lord Master Himself becomes merciful, the Lord Himself causes His Name to be chanted. He Himself leads us to meet the True Guru, and blesses us with peace. His servant is pleasing to the Lord. He Himself preserves the honor of His servants; He makes others fall at the feet of His devotees. The Righteous Judge of Dharma is the creation of the Lord; he does not even approach the humble servant of the Lord.

One who is dear to the Lord, is dear to all; a great many others come and go in vain. || 17 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: The whole world wanders around chanting, “Raam, Raam, Lord, Lord”, but the Lord cannot be found like this. He is inaccessible, unfathomable and utterly great; He is unweighable, and cannot be weighed. No one can evaluate Him; He cannot be purchased at any price.

Through the Word of the Guru’s Shabad, His mystery is known; in this way, He comes to dwell in the mind. O Nanak, He Himself is infinite; by Guru’s Grace, He is known to be permeating everywhere. He Himself comes to blend, and having blended, remains blended. || 1 || THIRD MEHL: O mind, this is the wealth of the Naam; it brings peace, forever and ever.

It never brings any loss at all; through it, one earns profits forever. Eating and spending it, it never decreases; He continues to give, forever and ever. One who has no skepticism at all, never suffers humiliation. O Nanak, the Gurmukh obtains it, when the Lord bestows His Glance of Grace. || 2 || PAUREE: He Himself is deep within all hearts, and He Himself is outside as well. He Himself is prevailing unmanifest, and He Himself is manifest as well.

For thirty-six ages, He created the darkness, abiding in the void. There were no Vedas, Puraanas or Shaastras there; only the Lord Himself existed. He Himself sat in the absolute trance, withdrawn from everything. Only He Himself knows His state; He Himself is the unfathomable ocean. || 18 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: In egotism, the world is dead; it dies and dies, again and again.

As long as there is breath in the body, he does not remember God; what will he do when he goes beyond? One who remembers the Lord is spiritually wise; the ignorant act blindly. O Nanak, whatever one does in this world determines what he shall receive in the world beyond. || 1 || THIRD MEHL: It is the pre-ordained Command of the Lord and Master, that one cannot be conscious of Him without the True Guru.

Meeting the True Guru, one realizes that the Lord is permeating and pervading deep within; he remains forever absorbed in the Lord’s Love. With each and every breath, he constantly remembers the Lord in meditation; not a single breath passes in vain. The fear of birth and death departs, and one obtains the honored state of eternal life. O Nanak, this rank is bestowed upon those whom He showers with His Mercy.

|| 2 || PAUREE: He Himself is all-wise and all-knowing; He Himself is supreme. He Himself reveals His form, and He Himself enjoins us to His meditation. He Himself poses as a silent sage, and He Himself speaks spiritual wisdom. He does not seem bitter to anyone; He is pleasing to all. His Praises cannot be described; I am forever and ever a sacrifice to Him. || 19 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: In this Dark Age of Kali Yuga, O Nanak, the Jinn, the demons, have taken birth. The son is a demon, the daughter is a demon, and the wife is the chief of the demons.

|| 1 || FIRST MEHL: The Hindus have forgotten the Primal Lord; they are going the wrong way. As Naarad instructed them, they worship idols. They are blind and mute, the blindest of the blind. The ignorant fools pick up stones and worship them. But when those stones themselves sink, how will they carry you across? || 2 || PAUREE: Everything is in Your power; You are the True King.

The devotees are attuned to the Love of the One Lord; they have perfect faith in Him. The Name of the Lord is the food of ambrosial nectar; His humble servants eat their fill. All treasures are obtained – meditative remembrance is the true profit. The Saints are very dear to the Supreme Lord God; O Nanak, the Lord is unapproachable and unfathomable. || 20 ||