Selections from the Guru Granth Sahib · 120 of 228
Raag Aasaa: First Mehl, Chaupaday, Second House
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:
Raag Aasaa, First Mehl, Chaupaday, Second House:
Hearing, everyone calls You Great, but only one who has seen You, knows just how Great You are.
Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 003 No one can measure Your Worth, or describe You.
Those who describe You, remain absorbed in You. ||1||
O my Great Lord and Master of Unfathomable Depth, You are the Ocean of Excellence.
No one knows the greatness of Your expanse. ||1||Pause||
All the contemplators met together and practiced contemplation;
all the appraisers met together and tried to appraise You.
The theologians, the meditators and the teachers of teachers could not express even an iota of Your Greatness. ||2||
All Truth, all austerities, all goodness, and the greatness of the Siddhas, the beings of perfect spiritual powers
- without You, none has attained such spiritual powers.
They are obtained by Your Grace; their flow cannot be blocked. ||3||
What can the helpless speaker do?
Your bounties are overflowing with Your Praises.
And the one, unto whom You give - why should he think of any other?
O Nanak, the True Lord is the Embellisher. ||4||1||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Chanting the Name, I live; forgetting it, I die.
It is so difficult to chant the True Name.
If someone feels hunger for the True Name, then that hunger shall consume his pains. ||1||
So how could I ever forget Him, O my Mother?
True is the Master, and True is His Name. ||1||Pause||
People have grown weary of trying to appraise the greatness of the True Name, but they have not been able to appraise even an iota of it.
Even if they were all to meet together and recount them,
You would not be made any greater or lesser. ||2||
He does not die - there is no reason to mourn.
He continues to give, but His Provisions are never exhausted.
This Glorious Virtue is His alone - no one else is like Him;
there has never been anyone like Him, and there never shall be. ||3||
As Great as You Yourself are, so Great are Your Gifts.
It is You who created day and night as well.
Those who forget their Lord and Master are vile and despicable.
O Nanak, without the Name, people are wretched outcasts. ||4||2||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
If a beggar cries out at the door, the Master hears it in His Mansion.
Whether He receives him or pushes him away, it is the Gift of the Lord’s Greatness. ||1||
Recognize the Lord’s Light within all, and do not consider social class or status; there are no classes or castes in the world hereafter. ||1||Pause||
He Himself acts, and He Himself inspires us to act.
He Himself considers our complaints.
Since You, O Creator Lord, are the Doer, why should I submit to the world? ||2||
You Yourself created and You Yourself give.
You Yourself eliminate evil-mindedness;
by Guru’s Grace, You come to abide in our minds, and then, pain and darkness are dispelled from within. ||3||
He Himself infuses love for the Truth.
Unto others, the Truth is not bestowed.
If He bestows it upon someone, says Nanak, then, in the world hereafter, that person is not called to account. ||4||3||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
The urges of the heart are like cymbals and ankle-bells;
the drum of the world resounds with the beat.
Naarad dances to the tune of the Dark Age of Kali Yuga;
where can the celibates and the men of truth place their feet? ||1||
Nanak is a sacrifice to the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
The world is blind; our Lord and Master is All-seeing. ||1||Pause||
The disciple feeds on the Guru;
out of love for bread, he comes to dwell in his home.
Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 004 If one were to live and eat for hundreds of years, that day alone would be auspicious, when he recognizes his Lord and Master. ||2||
Beholding the sight of the petitioner, compassion is not aroused.
No one lives without give and take.
The king administers justice only if his palm is greased.
No one is moved by the Name of God. ||3||
O Nanak, they are human beings in form and name only;
by their deeds they are dogs - this is the Command of the Lord’s Court.
By Guru’s Grace, if one sees himself as a guest in this world, then he gains honor in the Court of the Lord. ||4||4||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
As much as the Shabad is in the mind, so much is Your melody; as much as the form of the universe is, so much is Your body, Lord.
You Yourself are the tongue, and You Yourself are the nose. Do not speak of any other, O my mother. ||1||
My Lord and Master is One;
He is the One and Only; O Siblings of Destiny, He is the One alone. ||1||Pause||
He Himself kills, and He Himself emancipates; He Himself gives and takes.
He Himself beholds, and He Himself rejoices; He Himself bestows His Glance of Grace. ||2||
Whatever He is to do, that is what He is doing. No one else can do anything.
As He projects Himself, so do we describe Him; this is all Your Glorious Greatness, Lord. ||3||
The Dark Age of Kali Yuga is the bottle of wine; Maya is the sweet wine, and the intoxicated mind continues to drink it in.
He Himself assumes all sorts of forms; thus poor Nanak speaks. ||4||5||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Make your intellect your instrument, and love your tambourine;
thus bliss and lasting pleasure shall be produced in your mind.
This is devotional worship, and this is the practice of penance.
So dance in this love, and keep the beat with your feet. ||1||
Know that the perfect beat is the Praise of the Lord;
other dances produce only temporary pleasure in the mind. ||1||Pause||
Play the two cymbals of truth and contentment.
Let your ankle bells be the lasting Vision of the Lord.
Let your harmony and music be the elimination of duality.
So dance in this love, and keep the beat with your feet. ||2||
Let the fear of God within your heart and mind be your spinning dance, and keep up, whether sitting or standing.
To roll around in the dust is to know that the body is only ashes.
So dance in this love, and keep the beat with your feet. ||3||
Keep the company of the disciples, the students who love the teachings.
As Gurmukh, listen to the True Name.
O Nanak, chant it, over and over again.
So dance in this love, and keep the beat with your feet. ||4||6||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
He created the air, and He supports the whole world; he bound water and fire together.
The blind, ten-headed Raavan had his heads cut off, but what greatness was obtained by killing him? ||1||
What Glories of Yours can be chanted?
You are totally pervading everywhere; You love and cherish all. ||1||Pause||
You created all beings, and You hold the world in Your Hands; what greatness is it to put a ring in the nose of the black cobra, as Krishna did?
Whose Husband are You? Who is Your wife? You are subtly diffused and pervading in all. ||2||
Brahma, the bestower of blessings, entered the stem of the lotus, with his relatives, to find the extent of the universe.
Proceeding on, he could not find its limits; what glory was obtained by killing Kansa, the king? ||3||
The jewels were produced and brought forth by churning the ocean of milk. The other gods proclaimed “We are the ones who did this!”
Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 005 Says Nanak, by hiding, how can the Lord be hidden? He has given each their share, one by one. ||4||7||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
The vine of good actions and character has spread out, and it bears the fruit of the Lord’s Name.
The Name has no form or outline; it vibrates with the unstruck Sound Current; through the Word of the Shabad, the Immaculate Lord is revealed. ||1||
One can speak on this only when he knows it.
He alone drinks in the Ambrosial Nectar. ||1||Pause||
Those who drink it in are enraptured; their bonds and shackles are cut away.
When one’s light blends into the Divine Light, then the desire for Maya is ended. ||2||
Among all lights, I behold Your Form; all the worlds are Your Maya.
Among the tumults and forms, He sits in serene detachment; He bestows His Glance of Grace upon those who are engrossed in the illusion. ||3||
The Yogi who plays on the instrument of the Shabad gains the Blessed Vision of the Infinitely Beautiful Lord.
He, the Lord, is immersed in the Unstruck Shabad of the Word, says Nanak, the humble and meek. ||4||8||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
My virtue is that I carry the load of my words upon my head.
The real words are the Words of the Creator Lord.
How useless are eating, drinking and laughing, if the Lord is not cherished in the heart! ||1||
Why should someone care for anything else, if throughout his life, he gathers in that which is truly worth gathering? ||1||Pause||
The intellect of the mind is like a drunken elephant.
Whatever one utters is totally false, the most false of the false.
So what face should we put on to offer our prayer, when both virtue and vice are close at hand as witnesses? ||2||
As You make us, so we become.
Without You, there is no other at all.
As is the understanding which You bestow, so do we receive.
As it pleases Your Will, so do You lead us. ||3||
The divine crystalline harmonies, their consorts, and their celestial families
- from them, the essence of Ambrosial Nectar is produced.
O Nanak, this is the wealth and property of the Creator Lord.
If only this essential reality were understood! ||4||9||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
When by His Grace He came to my home, then my companions met together to celebrate my marriage.
Beholding this play, my mind became blissful; my Husband Lord has come to marry me. ||1||
So sing - yes, sing the songs of wisdom and reflection, O brides.
My spouse, the Life of the world, has come into my home. ||1||Pause||
When I was married within the Gurdwara, the Guru’s Gate, I met my Husband Lord, and I came to know Him.
The Word of His Shabad is pervading the three worlds; when my ego was quieted, my mind became happy. ||2||
He Himself arranges His own affairs; His affairs cannot be arranged by anyone else.
By the affair of this marriage, truth, contentment, mercy and faith are produced; but how rare is that Gurmukh who understands it! ||3||
Says Nanak, that Lord alone is the Husband of all.
She, upon whom He casts His Glance of Grace, becomes the happy soul-bride. ||4||10||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Home and forest are the same, for one who dwells in the balance of intuitive peace and poise.
His evil-mindedness departs, and the Praises of God take its place.
To chant the True Name with one’s mouth is the true ladder.
Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 006 Serving the True Guru, one finds one’s own place within the self. ||1||
To conquer the mind is the knowledge of the six Shaastras.
The Divine Light of the Lord God is perfectly pervading. ||1||Pause||
Excessive thirst for Maya makes people wear all sorts of religious robes.
The pain of corruption destroys the body’s peace.
Sexual desire and anger steal the wealth of the self within.
But by abandoning duality, one is emancipated through the Naam, the Name of the Lord. ||2||
In the Lord’s Praise and adoration is intuitive peace, poise and bliss.
The Love of the Lord God is one’s family and friends.
He Himself is the Doer, and He Himself is the Forgiver.
My body and mind belong to the Lord; my life is at His Command. ||3||
Falsehood and corruption cause terrible suffering.
All the religious robes and social classes look just like dust.
Whoever is born, continues to come and go.
O Nanak, only the Naam and the Lord’s Command are eternal and everlasting. ||4||11||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
In the pool is the one incomparably beautiful lotus.
It blossoms continually; its form is pure and fragrant.
The swans pick up the bright jewels.
They take on the essence of the All-powerful Lord of the Universe. ||1||
Whoever is seen, is subject to birth and death.
In the pool without water, the lotus is not seen. ||1||Pause||
How rare are those who know and understand this secret.
The Vedas continually speak of the three branches.
One who merges into the knowledge of the Lord as absolute and related, serves the True Guru and obtains the supreme status. ||2||
One who is imbued with the Love of the Lord and dwells continually upon Him is liberated.
He is the king of kings, and blossoms forth continually.
That one whom You preserve, by bestowing Your Mercy, O Lord, even the sinking stone - You float that one across. ||3||
Your Light is pervading the three worlds; I know that You are permeating the three worlds.
When my mind turned away from Maya, I came to dwell in my own home.
Nanak falls at the feet of that person who immerses himself in the Lord’s Love, and performs devotional worship night and day. ||4||12||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Receiving the True Teachings from the Guru, arguments depart.
But through excessive cleverness, one is only plastered with dirt.
The filth of attachment is removed by the True Name of the Lord.
By Guru’s Grace, one remains lovingly attached to the Lord. ||1||
He is the Presence Ever-present; offer your prayers to Him.
Pain and pleasure are in the Hands of God, the True Creator. ||1||Pause||
One who practices falsehood comes and goes.
By speaking and talking, His limits cannot be found.
Whatever one sees, is not understood.
Without the Name, satisfaction does not enter into the mind. ||2||
Whoever is born is afflicted by disease, tortured by the pain of egotism and Maya.
They alone are saved, who are protected by God.
Serving the True Guru, they drink in the Amrit, the Ambrosial Nectar. ||3||
The unstable mind is restrained by tasting this Nectar.
Serving the True Guru, one comes to cherish the Ambrosial Nectar of the Shabad.
Through the True Word of the Shabad, the state of liberation is obtained.
O Nanak, self-conceit is eradicated from within. ||4||13||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Whatever He has done, has proved to be true.
The True Guru bestows the Ambrosial Naam, the Name of the Lord.
With the Naam in the heart, the mind is not separated from the Lord.
Night and day, one dwells with the Beloved. ||1||
O Lord, please keep me in the Protection of Your Sanctuary.
Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 007 By Guru’s Grace, I have obtained the sublime essence of the Lord; I have received the wealth of the Naam and the nine treasures. ||1||Pause||
Those whose karma and Dharma - whose actions and faith - are in the True Name of the True Lord
- I am forever a sacrifice to them.
Those who are imbued with the Lord are accepted and respected.
In their company, the supreme wealth is obtained. ||2||
Blessed is that bride, who has obtained the Lord as her Husband.
She is imbued with the Lord, and she reflects upon the Word of His Shabad.
She saves herself, and saves her family and friends as well.
She serves the True Guru, and contemplates the essence of reality. ||3||
The True Name is my social status and honor.
The love of the Truth is my karma and Dharma - my faith and my actions, and my self-control.
O Nanak, one who is forgiven by the Lord is not called to account.
The One Lord erases duality. ||4||14||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Some come, and after they come, they go.
Some are imbued with the Lord; they remain absorbed in Him.
Some find no place of rest at all, on the earth or in the sky.
Those who do not meditate on the Name of the Lord are the most unfortunate. ||1||
From the Perfect Guru, the way to salvation is obtained.
This world is a terrifying ocean of poison; through the Word of the Guru’s Shabad, the Lord helps us cross over. ||1||Pause||
Those, whom God unites with Himself, cannot be crushed by death.
The beloved Gurmukhs remain immaculately pure, like the lotus in the water, which remains untouched. ||2||
Tell me: who should we call good or bad?
Behold the Lord God; the truth is revealed to the Gurmukh.
I speak the Unspoken Speech of the Lord, contemplating the Guru’s Teachings.
I join the Sangat, the Guru’s Congregation, and I find God’s limits. ||3||
The Shaastras, the Vedas, the Simritees and all their many secrets;
bathing at the sixty-eight holy places of pilgrimage - all this is found by enshrining the sublime essence of the Lord in the heart.
The Gurmukhs are immaculately pure; no filth sticks to them.
O Nanak, the Naam, the Name of the Lord, abides in the heart, by the greatest pre-ordained destiny. ||4||15||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Bowing down, again and again, I fall at the Feet of my Guru; through Him, I have seen the Lord, the Divine Self, within.
Through contemplation and meditation, the Lord dwells within the heart; see this, and understand. ||1||
So speak the Lord’s Name, which shall emancipate you.
By Guru’s Grace, the jewel of the Lord is found; ignorance is dispelled, and the Divine Light shines forth. ||1||Pause||
By merely saying it with the tongue, one’s bonds are not broken, and egotism and doubt do not depart from within.
But when one meets the True Guru, egotism departs, and then, one realizes his destiny. ||2||
The Name of the Lord, Har, Har, is sweet and dear to His devotees; it is the ocean of peace - enshrine it within the heart.
The Lover of His devotees, the Life of the World, the Lord bestows the Guru’s Teachings upon the intellect, and one is emancipated. ||3||
One who dies fighting against his own stubborn mind finds God, and the desires of the mind are quieted.
O Nanak, if the Life of the World bestows His Mercy, one is intuitively attuned to the Love of the Lord. ||4||16||
Aasaa, First Mehl:
Unto whom do they speak? Unto whom do they preach? Who understands? Let them understand themselves.
Who do they teach? Through study, they come to realize the Lord’s Glorious Virtues. Through the Shabad, the Word of the True Guru, they come to dwell in contentment. ||1||
Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 008 Through the Guru’s Teachings, realize that He is pervading in all bodies;
O my soul, vibrate on the Profound, Unfathomable Lord. ||1||Pause||
Loving devotion to the Lord brings endless waves of joy and delight.
One who dwells with the Glorious Praises of the Lord, night and day, is sanctified.
The birth into the world of the faithless cynic is totally useless.
The humble devotee of the Lord remains unattached. ||2||
The body which sings the Glorious Praises of the Lord is sanctified.
The soul remains conscious of the Lord, absorbed in His Love.
The Lord is the Infinite Primal Being, beyond the beyond, the priceless jewel.
My mind is totally content, imbued with my Beloved. ||3||
Those who speak and babble on and on, are truly dead.
God is not far away - O God, You are right here.
I have seen that the whole world is engrossed in Maya.
O Nanak, through the Guru’s Teachings, I meditate on the Naam, the Name of the Lord. ||4||17||
Aasaa, First Mehl, Ti-Tukas:
One is a beggar, living on charity;
another is a king, absorbed in himself.
One receives honor, and another dishonor.
The Lord destroys and creates; He is enshrined in His meditation.
There is no other as great as You.
So whom should I present to You? Who is good enough? ||1||
The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is my only Support.
You are the Great Giver, the Doer, the Creator. ||1||Pause||
I have not walked on Your Path; I have followed the crooked path.
In the Court of the Lord, I find no place to sit.
I am mentally blind, in the bondage of Maya.
The wall of my body is breaking down, wearing away, growing weaker.
You have such high hopes of eating and living
- your breaths and morsels of food are already counted! ||2||
Night and day they are blind - please, bless them with Your Light.
They are drowning in the terrifying world-ocean, crying out in pain.
I am a sacrifice to those who chant, hear and believe in the Name.
Nanak utters this one prayer;
soul and body, all belong to You, Lord. ||3||
When You bless me, I chant Your Name.
Thus I find my seat in the Court of the Lord.
When it pleases You, evil-mindedness departs, and the jewel of spiritual wisdom comes to dwell in the mind.
When the Lord bestows His Glance of Grace, then one comes to meet the True Guru.
Prays Nanak, carry us across the terrifying world-ocean. ||4||18||