Selections from the Guru Granth Sahib · 157 of 228

Raag Aasaa: First Mehl (II)

One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:

Maya is the wall of doubt - Maya is the wall of doubt. It is such a powerful and destructive intoxicant; it corrupts and wastes away one’s life.

In the terrible, impenetrable world-forest - in the terrible, impenetrable world-forest, the thieves are plundering man’s house in broad daylight; night and day, this life is being consumed.

The days of your life are being consumed; they are passing away without God. So meet God, the Merciful Lord.

Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 116 I passed through so many births and deaths; without Union with the Beloved, I did not obtain salvation.

I am without the status of high birth, beauty, glory or spiritual wisdom; without You, who is mine, O Mother?

With my palms pressed together, O Nanak, I enter the Lord’s Sanctuary; O beloved almighty Lord and Master, please, save me! ||1||

Like a fish out of water - like a fish out of water, separated from the Lord, the mind and body perish; how can I live, without my Beloved?

Facing the arrow head-on - facing the arrow head-on, the deer surrenders his mind, body and breath of life; he is struck by the hunter’s soothing music.

I have enshrined love for my Beloved. In order to meet Him, I have become a renunciate. Cursed is that body which remains without Him, even for an instant.

My eyelids do not close, for I am absorbed in the love of my Beloved. Day and night, my mind thinks only of God.

Attuned to the Lord, intoxicated with the Naam, fear, doubt and duality have all left me.

Bestow Your mercy and compassion, O merciful and perfect Lord, that Nanak may be intoxicated with Your Love. ||2||

The bumble-bee is buzzing - the bumble-bee is buzzing, intoxicated with the honey, the flavor and the fragrance; because of its love for the lotus, it entangles itself.

The mind of the rainbird thirsts - the mind of the rainbird thirsts; its mind longs for the beautiful rain-drops from the clouds. Drinking them in, its fever departs.

O Destroyer of fever, Remover of pain, please unite me with You. My mind and body have such great love for You.

O my beautiful, wise and all-knowing Lord and Master, with what tongue should I chant Your Praises?

Take me by the arm, and grant me Your Name. One who is blessed with Your Glance of Grace, has his sins erased.

Nanak meditates on the Lord, the Purifier of sinners; beholding His Vision, he suffers no more. ||3||

I focus my consciousness on the Lord - I focus my consciousness upon the Lord; I am helpless - please, keep me under Your Protection. I yearn to meet You, my soul hungers for You.

I meditate on Your beautiful body - I meditate on Your beautiful body; my mind is fascinated by Your spiritual wisdom, O Lord of the world. Please, preserve the honor of Your humble servants and beggars.

God bestows perfect honor and destroys pain; He has fulfilled all my desires.

How very blessed was that day when the Lord embraced me; meeting my Husband Lord, my bed was beautified.

When God granted His Grace and met me, all my sins were erased.

Prays Nanak, my hopes are fulfilled; I have met the Lord, the Lord of Lakshmi, the treasure of excellence. ||4||1||14||

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:

Aasaa, First Mehl:

Vaar With Shaloks, And Shaloks Written By The First Mehl. To Be Sung To The Tune Of ‘Tunda-Asraajaa’:

Context

Aasaa Di Vaar — ‘The Ballad of Hope’ — begins here. The structure is unusual: Guru Nānak composed twenty-four pauris (stanzas), and Guru Arjan later inserted shaloks (short couplets, mostly by Guru Nānak and Guru Angad) between each pauri to expand and gloss it. The result is a layered scriptural text in which the dialogue between earlier and later Gurus is visible inside the form itself. The Vaar form was originally a Punjabi heroic ballad sung to martial music — Guru Nānak repurposed it for spiritual heroism, the war against ego. By tradition, the whole Vaar is sung at dawn over roughly an hour and a quarter; raagis (musicians) at the Golden Temple in Amritsar perform it every morning. The pauris that follow include some of the Granth’s most-cited theological lines.

Shalok, First Mehl:

A hundred times a day, I am a sacrifice to my Guru;

He made angels out of men, without delay. ||1||

Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 117 Second Mehl:

If a hundred moons were to rise, and a thousand suns appeared, even with such light, there would still be pitch darkness without the Guru. ||2||

First Mehl:

O Nanak, those who do not think of the Guru, and who think of themselves as clever, shall be left abandoned in the field, like the scattered sesame.

They are abandoned in the field, says Nanak, and they have a hundred masters to please.

The wretches bear fruit and flower, but within their bodies, they are filled with ashes. ||3||

Pauree:

He Himself created Himself; He Himself assumed His Name.

Secondly, He fashioned the creation; seated within the creation, He beholds it with delight.

You Yourself are the Giver and the Creator; by Your Pleasure, You bestow Your Mercy.

You are the Knower of all; You give life, and take it away again with a word.

Seated within the creation, You behold it with delight. ||1||