CONTD FROM Vol 8 ISSUE 29

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: SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL, FIRST HOUSE, CHAU-PADAS:

Death comes to all, and all must suffer separation. Go and ask the clever people, whether they shall meet in the world hereafter. Those who forget my Lord and Master shall suffer in terrible pain.

|| 1 || So praise the True Lord, by whose Grace peace ever prevails. || Pause || Praise Him as great; He is, and He shall ever be. You alone are the Great Giver; mankind cannot give anything.Whatever pleases Him, comes to pass; what good does it do to cry out in protest?

|| 2 || Many have proclaimed their sovereignty over millions of fortresses on the earth, but they have now departed. And those, whom even the sky could not contain, had ropes put through their noses. O mind, if you only knew the torment in your future, you would not relish the sweet pleasures of the present.

|| 3 || O Nanak, as many as are the sins one commits, so many are the chains around his neck. If he possesses virtues, then the chains are cut away; these virtues are his brothers, his true brothers. Going to the world hereafter, those who have no Guru are not accepted; they are beaten, and expelled.

|| 4 || 1 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL, FIRST HOUSE: Make your mind the farmer, good deeds the farm, modesty the water, and your body the field. Let the Lord’s Name be the seed, contentment the plow, and your humble dress the fence. Doing deeds of love, the seed shall sprout, and you shall see your home flourish.

|| 1 || O Baba, the wealth of Maya does not go with anyone. This Maya has bewitched the world, but only a rare few understand this. || Pause || Make your ever-decreasing life your shop, and make the Lord’s Name your merchandise. Make understanding and contemplation your warehouse, and in that warehouse, store the Lord’s Name. Deal with the Lord’s dealers, earn your profits, and rejoice in your mind.

|| 2 || Let your trade be listening to scripture, and let Truth be the horses you take to sell. Gather up merits for your travelling expenses, and do not think of tomorrow in your mind. When you arrive in the land of the Formless Lord, you shall find peace in the Mansion of His Presence.

|| 3 || Let your service be the focusing of your consciousness, and let your occupation be the placing of faith in the Naam. Let your work be restraint from sin; only then will people call you blessed. O Nanak, the Lord shall look upon you with His Glance of Grace, and you shall be blessed with honor four times over.

|| 4 || 2 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL, CHAU-TUKAS: The son is dear to his mother and father; he is the wise son-in-law to his father-in-law. The father is dear to his son and daughter, and the brother is very dear to his brother. By the Order of the Lord’s Command, he leaves his house and goes outside, and in an instant, everything becomes alien to him. The self-willed manmukh does not remember the Name of the Lord, does not give in charity, and does not cleanse his consciousness; his body rolls in the dust.

|| 1 || The mind is comforted by the Comforter of the Naam. I fall at the Guru’s feet – I am a sacrifice to Him; He has given me to understand the true understanding. || Pause || The mind is impressed with the false love of the world; he quarrels with the Lord’s humble servant. Infatuated with Maya, night and day, he sees only the worldly path; he does not chant the Naam, and drinking poison, he dies. He is imbued and infatuated with vicious talk; the Word of the Shabad does not come into his consciousness. He is not imbued with the Lord’s Love, and he is not impressed by the taste of the Name; the self-willed manmukh loses his honor.

|| 2 || He does not enjoy celestial peace in the Company of the Holy, and there is not even a bit of sweetness on his tongue. He calls his mind, body and wealth his own; he has no knowledge of the Court of the Lord. Closing his eyes, he walks in darkness; he cannot see the home of his own being, O Siblings of Destiny. Tied up at Death’s door, he finds no place of rest; he receives the rewards of his own actions.

|| 3 || When the Lord casts His Glance of Grace, then I see Him with my own eyes; He is indescribable, and cannot be described.With my ears, I continually listen to the Word of the Shabad, and I praise Him; His Ambrosial Name abides within my heart. He is Fearless, Formless and absolutely without vengeance; I am absorbed in His Perfect Light. O Nanak, without the Guru, doubt is not dispelled; through the True Name, glorious greatness is obtained.

|| 4 || 3 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL, DU-TUKAS: In the realm of land, and in the realm of water, Your seat is the chamber of the four directions. Yours is the one and only form of the entire universe; Your mouth is the mint to fashion all.

|| 1 || O my Lord Master, Your play is so wonderful! You are pervading and permeating the water, the land and the sky; You Yourself are contained in all. || Pause || Wherever I look, there I see Your Light, but what is Your form? You have one form, but it is unseen; there is none like any other.

|| 2 || The beings born of eggs, born of the womb, born of the earth and born of sweat, all are created by You. I have seen one glory of Yours, that You are pervading and permeating in all. || 3 || Your Glories are so numerous, and I do not know even one of them; I am such a fool – please, give me some of them! Prays Nanak, listen, O my Lord Master: I am sinking like a stone – please, save me!

|| 4 || 4 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL: I am a wicked sinner and a great hypocrite; You are the Immaculate and Formless Lord. Tasting the Ambrosial Nectar, I am imbued with supreme bliss; O Lord and Master, I seek Your Sanctuary. || 1 || O Creator Lord, You are the honor of the dishonored. In my lap is the honor and glory of the wealth of the Name; I merge into the True Word of the Shabad. || Pause || You are perfect, while I am worthless and imperfect. You are profound, while I am trivial. My mind is imbued with You, day and night and morning, O Lord; my tongue chants Your Name, and my mind meditates on You.

|| 2 || You are True, and I am absorbed into You; through the mystery of the Shabad, I shall ultimately become True as well. Those who are imbued with the Naam day and night are pure, while those who die to be reborn are impure.

|| 3 || I do not see any other like the Lord; who else should I praise? No one is equal to Him. Prays Nanak, I am the slave of His slaves; by Guru’s Instruction, I know Him.

|| 4 || 5 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL: He is unknowable, infinite, unapproachable and imperceptible. He is not subject to death or karma. His caste is casteless; He is unborn, self-illumined, and free of doubt and desire. || 1 || I am a sacrifice to the Truest of the True. He has no form, no color and no features; through the True Word of the Shabad, He reveals Himself. || Pause || He has no mother, father, sons or relatives; He is free of sexual desire; He has no wife. He has no ancestry; He is immaculate. He is infinite and endless; O Lord, Your Light is pervading all.

|| 2 || Deep within each and every heart, God is hidden; His Light is in each and every heart. The heavy doors are opened by Guru’s Instructions; one becomes fearless, in the trance of deep meditation.

|| 3 || The Lord created all beings, and placed death over the heads of all; all the world is under His Power. Serving the True Guru, the treasure is obtained; living the Word of the Shabad, one is emancipated.

|| 4 || In the pure vessel, the True Name is contained; how few are those who practice true conduct. The individual soul is united with the Supreme Soul; Nanak seeks Your Sanctuary, Lord.

|| 5 || 6 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL: Like a fish without water is the faithless cynic, who dies of thirst. So shall you die, O mind, without the Lord, as your breath goes in vain.

|| 1 || O mind, chant the Lord’s Name, and praise Him.Without the Guru, how will you obtain this juice? The Guru shall unite you with the Lord. || Pause || For the Gurmukh, meeting with the Society of the Saints is like making a pilgrimage to a sacred shrine. The benefit of bathing at the sixty-eight sacred shrines of pilgrimage is obtained by the Blessed Vision of the Guru’s Darshan.

|| 2 || Like the Yogi without abstinence, and like penance without truth and contentment, so is the body without the Lord’s Name; death will slay it, because of the sin within.

|| 3 || The faithless cynic does not obtain the Lord’s Love; the Lord’s Love is obtained only through the True Guru. One who meets with the Guru, the Giver of pleasure and pain, says Nanak, is absorbed in the Lord’s Praise. || 4 || 7 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL: You, God, are the Giver of gifts, the Lord of perfect understanding; I am a mere beggar at Your Door.What should I beg for? Nothing remains permanent; O Lord, please, bless me with Your Beloved Name.

|| 1 || In each and every heart, the Lord, the Lord of the forest, is permeating and pervading. In the water, on the land, and in the sky, He is pervading but hidden; through the Word of the Guru’s Shabad, He is revealed. || Pause || In this world, in the nether regions of the underworld, and in the Akaashic Ethers, the Guru, the True Guru, has shown me the Lord; He has showered me with His Mercy. He is the unborn Lord God; He is, and shall ever be. Deep within your heart, behold Him, the Destroyer of ego.

|| 2 || This wretched world is caught in birth and death; in the love of duality, it has forgotten devotional worship of the Lord. Meeting the True Guru, the Guru’s Teachings are obtained; the faithless cynic loses the game of life.

|| 3 || Breaking my bonds, the True Guru has set me free, and I shall not be cast into the womb of reincarnation again. O Nanak, the jewel of spiritual wisdom shines forth, and the Lord, the Formless Lord, dwells within my mind. || 4 || 8 || SORAT’H, FIRST MEHL: The treasure of the Name, for which you have come into the world – that Ambrosial Nectar is with the Guru. Renounce costumes, disguises and clever tricks; this fruit is not obtained by duplicity.

|| 1 || O my mind, remain steady, and do not wander away. By searching around on the outside, you shall only suffer great pain; the Ambrosial Nectar is found within the home of your own being. || Pause || Renounce corruption, and seek virtue; committing sins, you shall only come to regret and repent. You do not know the difference between good and evil; again and again, you sink into the mud.

|| 2 || Within you is the great filth of greed and falsehood; why do you bother to wash your body on the outside? Chant the Immaculate Naam, the Name of the Lord always, under Guru’s Instruction; only then will your innermost being be emancipated.

|| 3 || Let greed and slander be far away from you, and renounce falsehood; through the True Word of the Guru’s Shabad, you shall obtain the true fruit. As it pleases You, You preserve me, Dear Lord; servant Nanak sings the Praises of Your Shabad. This page is sponsored by Sardar Paramjit Singh Bedi and family Elle Belle LLC 3 Commercial Street Hicksville, N.Y. 11801 TO BE CONTINUED