Selections from the Guru Granth Sahib · 161 of 228
Raag Aasaa: Shalok, First Mehl (IV)
Shalok, First Mehl:
You may read and read loads of books; you may read and study vast multitudes of books.
You may read and read boat-loads of books; you may read and read and fill pits with them.
You may read them year after year; you may read them as many months are there are.
You may read them all your life; you may read them with every breath.
O Nanak, only one thing is of any account: everything else is useless babbling and idle talk in ego. ||1||
First Mehl:
The more one write and reads, the more one burns.
The more one wanders at sacred shrines of pilgrimage, the more one talks uselessly.
The more one wears religious robes, the more pain he causes his body.
O my soul, you must endure the consequences of your own actions.
One who does not eat the corn, misses out on the taste.
One obtains great pain, in the love of duality.
One who does not wear any clothes, suffers night and day.
Through silence, he is ruined.
How can the sleeping one be awakened without the Guru?
One who goes barefoot suffers by his own actions.
One who eats filth and throws ashes on his head - the blind fool loses his honor.
Without the Name, nothing is of any use.
One who lives in the wilderness, in cemetaries and cremation grounds
- that blind man does not know the Lord; he regrets and repents in the end.
Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 122 One who meets the True Guru finds peace.
He enshrines the Name of the Lord in his mind.
O Nanak, when the Lord grants His Grace, He is obtained.
He becomes free of hope and fear, and burns away his ego with the Word of the Shabad. ||2||
Pauree:
Your devotees are pleasing to Your Mind, Lord. They look beautiful at Your door, singing Your Praises.
O Nanak, those who are denied Your Grace, find no shelter at Your Door; they continue wandering.
Some do not understand their origins, and without cause, they display their self-conceit.
I am the Lord’s minstrel, of low social status; others call themselves high caste.
I seek those who meditate on You. ||9||
Shalok, First Mehl:
False is the king, false are the subjects; false is the whole world.
False is the mansion, false are the skyscrapers; false are those who live in them.
False is gold, and false is silver; false are those who wear them.
False is the body, false are the clothes; false is incomparable beauty.
False is the husband, false is the wife; they mourn and waste away.
The false ones love falsehood, and forget their Creator.
With whom should I become friends, if all the world shall pass away?
False is sweetness, false is honey; through falsehood, boat-loads of men have drowned.
Nanak speaks this prayer: without You, Lord, everything is totally false. ||1||
First Mehl:
One knows the Truth only when the Truth is in his heart.
The filth of falsehood departs, and the body is washed clean.
One knows the Truth only when he bears love to the True Lord.
Hearing the Name, the mind is enraptured; then, he attains the gate of salvation.
One knows the Truth only when he knows the true way of life.
Preparing the field of the body, he plants the Seed of the Creator.
One knows the Truth only when he receives true instruction.
Showing mercy to other beings, he makes donations to charities.
One knows the Truth only when he dwells in the sacred shrine of pilgrimage of his own soul.
He sits and receives instruction from the True Guru, and lives in accordance with His Will.
Truth is the medicine for all; it removes and washes away our sins.
Nanak speaks this prayer to those who have Truth in their laps. ||2||
Pauree:
The gift I seek is the dust of the feet of the Saints; if I were to obtain it, I would apply it to my forehead.
Renounce false greed, and meditate single-mindedly on the unseen Lord.
As are the actions we commit, so are the rewards we receive.
If it is so pre-ordained, then one obtains the dust of the feet of the Saints.
But through small-mindedness, we forfeit the merits of selfless service. ||10||