CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS ISSUE

|| 1 || Pause || The Lord Himself, the Life of the World, is the Giver. He Himself forgives, and unites us with Himself. What are these poor beings and creatures? What can they speak and say?
God Himself grants glory to the Gurmukhs; He joins them to His Service.

|| 2 || Beholding your family, you are lured away by emotional attachment, but when you leave, they will not go with you. Serving the True Guru, I have found the Treasure of Excellence. Its value cannot be estimated. The Dear Lord God is my Best Friend. In the end, He shall be my Companion and Support. || 3 || In this world of my father’s home, the Great Giver is the Life of the World. The self-willed manmukhs have lost their honor. Without the True Guru, no one knows the Way. The blind find no place of rest. If the Lord, the Giver of Peace, does not dwell within the mind, then they shall depart with regret in the end.

|| 4 || In this world of my father’s house, through the Guru’s Teachings, I have cultivated within my mind the Great Giver, the Life of the World. Night and day, performing devotional worship, day and night, ego and emotional attachment are removed. And then, attuned to Him, we become like Him, truly absorbed in the True One. || 5 || Bestowing His Glance of Grace, He gives us His Love, and we contemplate the Word of the Guru’s Shabad. Serving the True Guru, intuitive peace wells up, and ego and desire die. The Lord, the Giver of Virtue, dwells forever within the minds of those who keep Truth enshrined within their hearts.

|| 6 || My God is forever Immaculate and Pure; with a pure mind, He can be found. If the Treasure of the Name of the Lord abides within the mind, egotism and pain are totally eliminated. The True Guru has instructed me in the Word of the Shabad. I am forever a sacrifice to Him.

|| 7 || Within your own conscious mind, you may say anything, but without the Guru, selfishness and conceit are not eradicated. The Dear Lord is the Lover of His devotees, the Giver of Peace. By His Grace, He abides within the mind. O Nanak, God blesses us with the sublime awakening of consciousness; He Himself grants glorious greatness to the Gurmukh. || 8 || 1 || 18 || SIREE RAAG, THIRD MEHL: Those who go around acting in egotism are struck down by the Messenger of Death with his club. Those who serve the True Guru are uplifted and saved, in love with the Lord.

|| 1 || O mind, become Gurmukh, and meditate on the Naam, the Name of the Lord. Those who are so pre-destined by the Creator are absorbed into the Naam, through the Guru’s Teachings. || 1 || Pause || Without the True Guru, faith does not come, and love for the Naam is not embraced. Even in dreams, they find no peace; they sleep immersed in pain.

|| 2 || Even if you chant the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, with great longing, your past actions are still not erased. The Lord’s devotees surrender to His Will; those devotees are accepted at His Door. || 3 || The Guru has lovingly implanted the Word of His Shabad within me. Without His Grace, it cannot be attained. Even if the poisonous plant is watered with ambrosial nectar a hundred times, it will still bear poisonous fruit. || 4 || Those humble beings who are in love with the True Guru are pure and true. They act in harmony with the Will of the True Guru; they shed the poison of ego and corruption.

|| 5 || Acting in stubbornmindedness, no one is saved; go and study the Simritees and the Shaastras. Joining the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, and practicing the Shabads of the Guru, you shall be saved. || 6 || The Name of the Lord is the Treasure, which has no end or limitation. The Gurmukhs are beauteous; the Creator has blessed them with His Mercy. || 7 || O Nanak, the One Lord alone is the Giver; there is no other at all. By Guru’s Grace, He is obtained. By His Mercy, He is found.

|| 8 || 2 || 19 || SIREE RAAG, THIRD MEHL: The soul-bird in the beautiful tree of the body pecks at Truth, with love for the Guru. She drinks in the Sublime Essence of the Lord, and abides in intuitive ease; she does not fly around coming and going. She obtains her home within her own heart; she is absorbed into the Name of the Lord, Har, Har. || 1 || O mind, work to serve the Guru. If you walk in harmony with the Guru’s Will, you shall remain immersed in the Lord’s Name, night and day.

|| 1 || Pause || The birds in the beautiful trees fly around in all four directions. The more they fly around, the more they suffer; they burn and cry out in pain. Without the Guru, they do not find the Mansion of the Lord’s Presence, and they do not obtain the Ambrosial Fruit. || 2 || The Gurmukh is like God’s tree, always green, blessed with the Sublime Love of the True One, with intuitive peace and poise. He cuts off the three branches of the three qualities, and embraces love for the One Word of the Shabad. The Lord alone is the Ambrosial Fruit; He Himself gives it to us to eat.

|| 3 || The self-willed manmukhs stand there and dry up; they do not bear any fruit, and they do not provide any shade. Don’t even bother to sit near them – they have no home or village. They are cut down and burnt each day; they have neither the Shabad, nor the Lord’s Name. || 4 || According to the Lord’s Command, people perform their actions; they wander around, driven by the karma of their past actions. By the Lord’s Command, they behold the Blessed Vision of His Darshan. Wherever He sends them, there they go. By His Command, the Lord, Har, Har, abides within our minds; by His Command we merge in Truth.

|| 5 || The wretched fools do not know the Lord’s Will; they wander around making mistakes. They go about their business stubborn-mindedly; they are disgraced forever and ever. Inner peace does not come to them; they do not embrace love for the True Lord. || 6 || Beautiful are the faces of the Gurmukhs, who bear love and affection for the Guru. Through true devotional worship, they are attuned to Truth; at the True Door, they are found to be true. Blessed is their coming into being; they redeem all their ancestors.

|| 7 || All do their deeds under the Lord’s Glance of Grace; no one is beyond His Vision. According to the Glance of Grace with which the True Lord beholds us, so do we become. O Nanak, the Glorious Greatness of the Naam, the Name of the Lord, is received only by His Mercy. || 8 || 3 || 20 || SIREE RAAG, THIRD MEHL: The Gurmukhs meditate on the Naam; the self-willed manmukhs do not understand. The faces of the Gurmukhs are always radiant; the Lord has come to dwell within their minds. Through intuitive understanding they are at peace, and through intuitive understanding they remain absorbed in the Lord.

|| 1 || O Siblings of Destiny, be the slaves of the Lord’s slaves. Service to the Guru is worship of the Guru. How rare are those who obtain it! || 1 || Pause || The happy soul-bride is always with her Husband Lord, if she walks in harmony with the Will of the True Guru. She attains her Eternal, Ever-stable Husband, who never dies or goes away. United with the Word of the Shabad, she shall not be separated again. She is immersed in the Lap of her Beloved.

|| 2 || The Lord is Immaculate and Radiantly Bright; without the Guru, He cannot be found. He cannot be understood by reading scriptures; the deceitful pretenders are deluded by doubt. Through the Guru’s Teachings, the Lord is always found, and the tongue is permeated with the Sublime Essence of the Lord. || 3 || Emotional attachment to Maya is shed with intuitive ease, through the Guru’s Teachings. Without the Shabad, the world wanders lost in pain. The self-willed manmukh is consumed. Through the Shabad, meditate on the Naam; through the Shabad, you shall merge in Truth.

|| 4 || The Siddhas wander around, deluded by Maya; they are not absorbed in the Samaadhi of the Lord’s Sublime Love. The three worlds are permeated by Maya; they are totally covered by it. Without the Guru, liberation is not attained, and the double-mindedness of Maya does not go away. || 5 || What is called Maya? What does Maya do? These beings are bound by pleasure and pain; they do their deeds in egotism. Without the Shabad, doubt is not dispelled, and egotism is not eliminated from within.

|| 6 || Without love, there is no devotional worship. Without the Shabad, no one finds acceptance. Through the Shabad, egotism is conquered and subdued, and the illusion of Maya is dispelled. The Gurmukh obtains the Treasure of the Naam with intuitive ease. || 7 || Without the Guru, one’s virtues do not shine forth; without virtue, there is no devotional worship. The Lord is the Lover of His devotees; He abides within their minds. They meet that God with intuitive ease. O Nanak, through the Shabad, praise the Lord. By His Grace, He is obtained. || 8 || 4 || 21 || SIREE RAAG, THIRD MEHL: Emotional attachment to Maya is created by my God; He Himself misleads us through illusion and doubt.

TO BE CONTINUED