CONTD FROM Vol 8 ISSUE 46

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: Service to the True Guru is fruitful and rewarding; blessed and acceptable is such a life. Those who do not forget the True Guru, in life and in death, are truly wise people. Their families are saved, and they are approved by the Lord. The Gurmukhs are approved in death as in life, while the self-willed manmukhs continue the cycle of birth and death. O Nanak, they are not described as dead, who are absorbed in the Word of the Guru’s Shabad.

|| 2 || PAUREE: Serve the Immaculate Lord God, and meditate on the Lord’s Name. Join the Society of the Holy Saints, and be absorbed in the Lord’s Name. O Lord, glorious and great is service to You; I am so foolish – please, commit me to it. I am Your servant and slave; command me, according to Your Will. As Gurmukh, I shall serve You, as Guru has instructed me.

|| 2 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: He acts according to pre-ordained destiny, written by the Creator Himself. Emotional attachment has drugged him, and he has forgotten the Lord, the treasure of virtue. Don’t think that he is alive in the world – he is dead, through the love of duality. Those who do not meditate on the Lord, as Gurmukh, are not permitted to sit near the Lord. They suffer the most horrible pain and suffering, and neither their sons nor their wives go along with them. Their faces are blackened among men, and they sigh in deep regret. No one places any reliance in the self-willed manmukhs; trust in them is lost. O Nanak, the Gurmukhs live in absolute peace; the Naam, the Name of the Lord, abides within them.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: They alone are relatives, and they alone are friends, who, as Gurmukh, join together in love. Night and day, they act according to the True Guru’s Will; they remain absorbed in the True Name. Those who are attached to the love of duality are not called friends; they practice egotism and corruption. The self-willed manmukhs are selfish; they cannot resolve anyone’s affairs. O Nanak, they act according to their preordained destiny; no one can erase it.

|| 2 || PAUREE: You Yourself created the world, and You Yourself arranged the play of it. You Yourself created the three qualities, and fostered emotional attachment to Maya. He is called to account for his deeds done in egotism; he continues coming and going in reincarnation. The Guru instructs those whom the Lord Himself blesses with Grace. I am a sacrifice to my Guru; forever and ever, I am a sacrifice to Him.

|| 3 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: The love of Maya is enticing; without teeth, it has eaten up the world. The self-willed manmukhs are eaten away, while the Gurmukhs are saved; they focus their consciousness on the True Name.Without the Name, the world wanders around insane; the Gurmukhs come to see this. Involved in worldly affairs, he wastes his life in vain; the peace-giving Lord does not come to abide in his mind. O Nanak, they alone obtain the Name, who have such preordained destiny.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: The home within is filled with Ambrosial Nectar, but the self-willed manmukh does not get to taste it. He is like the deer, who does not recognize its own musk-scent; it wanders around, deluded by doubt. The manmukh forsakes the Ambrosial Nectar, and instead gathers poison; the Creator Himself has fooled him. How rare are the Gurmukhs, who obtain this understanding; they behold the Lord God within themselves. Their minds and bodies are cooled and soothed, and their tongues enjoy the sublime taste of the Lord. Through the Word of the Shabad, the Name wells up; through the Shabad, we are united in the Lord’s Union.Without the Shabad, the whole world is insane, and it loses its life in vain. The Shabad alone is Ambrosial Nectar; O Nanak, the Gurmukhs obtain it.

|| 2 || PAUREE: The Lord God is inaccessible; tell me, how can we find Him? He has no form or feature, and He cannot be seen; tell me, how can we meditate on Him? The Lord is formless, immaculate and inaccessible; which of His Virtues should we speak of and sing? They alone walk on the Lord’s Path, whom the Lord Himself instructs. The Perfect Guru has revealed Him to me; serving the Guru, He is found.

|| 4 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: It is as if my body has been crushed in the oil-press, without yielding even a drop of blood; it is as if my soul has been cut apart into pieces for the sake of the Love of the True Lord; O Nanak, still, night and day, my Union with the Lord is not broken.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: My Friend is so full of joy and love; He colors my mind with the color of His Love, like the fabric which is treated to retain the color of the dye. O Nanak, this color does not depart, and no other color can be imparted to this fabric.

|| 2 || PAUREE: The Lord Himself is pervading everywhere; the Lord Himself causes us to chant His Name. The Lord Himself created the creation; He commits all to their tasks. He engages some in devotional worship, and others, He causes to stray. He places some on the Path, while He leads others into the wilderness. Servant Nanak meditates on the Naam, the Name of the Lord; as Gurmukh, he sings the Glorious Praises of the Lord.

|| 5 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: Service to the True Guru is fruitful and rewarding, if one performs it with his mind focused on it. The fruits of the mind’s desires are obtained, and egotism departs from within. His bonds are broken, and he is liberated; he remains absorbed in the True Lord. It is so difficult to obtain the Naam in this world; it comes to dwell in the mind of the Gurmukh. O Nanak, I am a sacrifice to one who serves his True Guru.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: The mind of the self-willed manmukh is so very stubborn; it is stuck in the love of duality. He does not find peace, even in dreams; he passes his life in misery and suffering. The Pandits have grown weary of going door to door, reading and reciting their scriptures; the Siddhas have gone into their trances of Samaadhi. This mind cannot be controlled; they are tired of performing religious rituals. The impersonators have grown weary of wearing false costumes, and bathing at the sixty-eight sacred shrines. They do not know the state of their own minds; they are deluded by doubt and egotism. By Guru’s Grace, the Fear of God is obtained; by great good fortune, the Lord comes to abide in the mind. When the Fear of God comes, the mind is restrained, and through the Word of the Shabad, the ego is burnt away. Those who are imbued with Truth are immaculate; their light merges in the Light. Meeting the True Guru, one obtains the Name; O Nanak, he is absorbed in peace.

|| 2 || PAUREE: The pleasures of kings and emperors are pleasing, but they last for only a few days. These pleasures of Maya are like the color of the safflower, which wears off in a moment. They do not go with him when he departs; instead, he carries the load of sins upon his head. When death seizes him, and marches him away, then he looks absolutely hideous. That lost opportunity will not come into his hands again, and in the end, he regrets and repents.

|| 6 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: Those who turn their faces away from the True Guru, suffer in sorrow and bondage. Again and again, they are born only to die; they cannot meet their Lord. The disease of doubt does not depart, and they find only pain and more pain. O Nanak, if the Gracious Lord forgives, then one is united in Union with the Word of the Shabad.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: Those who turn their faces away from the True Guru, shall find no place of rest or shelter. They wander around from door to door, like a woman forsaken, with a bad character and a bad reputation. O Nanak, the Gurmukhs are forgiven, and united in Union with the True Guru.

|| 2 || PAUREE: Those who serve the True Lord, the Destroyer of ego, cross over the terrifying world-ocean. Those who chant the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, are passed over by the Messenger of Death. Those who meditate on the Lord, go to His Court in robes of honor. They alone serve You, O Lord, whom You bless with Grace. I sing continually Your Glorious Praises, O Beloved; as Gurmukh, my doubts and fears have been dispelled.

|| 7 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: Upon the plate, three things have been placed; this is the sublime, ambrosial food of the Lord. Eating this, the mind is satisfied, and the Door of Salvation is found. It is so difficult to obtain this food, O Saints; it is obtained only by contemplating the Guru. Why should we cast this riddle out of our minds? We should keep it ever enshrined in our hearts. The True Guru has posed this riddle. The Guru’s Sikhs have found its solution. O Nanak, he alone understands this, whom the Lord inspires to understand. The Gurmukhs work hard, and find the Lord.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: Those whom the Primal Lord unites, remain in Union with Him; they focus their consciousness on the True Guru. Those whom the Lord Himself separates, remain separated; in the love of duality, they are ruined. O Nanak, without good karma, what can anyone obtain? He earns what he is pre-destined to receive.

|| 2 || PAUREE: Sitting together, the companions sing the Songs of the Lord’s Praises. They praise the Lord’s Name continually; they are a sacrifice to the Lord. Those who hear, and believe in the Lord’s Name, to them I am a sacrifice. O Lord, let me unite with the Gurmukhs, who are united with You. I am a sacrifice to those who, day and night, behold their Guru.

|| 8 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: Without the Name of the Lord, everyone wanders around the world, losing. The self-willed manmukhs do their deeds in the pitch black darkness of egotism. The Gurmukhs drink in the Ambrosial Nectar, O Nanak, contemplating the Word of the Shabad.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: He wakes in peace, and he sleeps in peace. The Gurmukh praises the Lord night and day. The self-willed manmukh remains deluded by his doubts. He is filled with anxiety, and he cannot even sleep. The spiritually wise wake and sleep in peace. Nanak is a sacrifice to those who are imbued with the Naam, the Name of the Lord.

|| 2 || PAUREE: They alone meditate on the Lord’s Name, who are imbued with the Lord. They meditate on the One Lord; the One and Only Lord is True. The One Lord is pervading everywhere; the One Lord created the Universe. Those who meditate on the Lord’s Name, cast out their fears. The Lord Himself blesses them with Guru’s Instruction; the Gurmukh meditates on the Lord.

|| 9 || SHALOK, THIRD MEHL: Spiritual wisdom, which would bring understanding, does not enter into his mind.Without seeing, how can he praise the Lord? The blind act in blindness. O Nanak, when one realizes the Word of the Shabad, then the Naam comes to abide in the mind.

|| 1 || THIRD MEHL: There is One Bani; there is One Guru; there is one Shabad to contemplate. True is the merchandise, and true is the shop; the warehouses are overflowing with jewels. By Guru’s Grace, they are obtained, if the Great Giver gives them. Dealing in this true merchandise, one earns the profit of the incomparable Naam. In the midst of poison, the Ambrosial Nectar is revealed; by His Mercy, one drinks it in. O Nanak, praise the True Lord; blessed is the Creator, the Embellisher.

TO BE CONTINUED