Ang 15

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: If I could live for millions and millions of years, and if the air was my food and drink, and if I lived in a cave and never saw either the sun or the moon, and if I never slept, even in dreams—even so, I could not estimate Your Value. How can I describe the Greatness of Your Name? ||1|| The True Lord, the Formless One, is Himself in His Own Place. I have heard, over and over again, and so I tell the tale; as it pleases You, Lord, please instill within me the yearning for You. ||1|| Pause|| If I was slashed and cut into pieces, over and over again, and put into the mill and ground into flour, burnt by fire and mixed with ashes—even then, I could not estimate Your Value. How can I describe the Greatness of Your Name? ||2|| If I was a bird, soaring and flying through hundreds of heavens, and if I was invisible, neither eating nor drinking anything—even so, I could not estimate Your Value. How can I describe the Greatness of Your Name? ||3|| O Nanak, if I had hundreds of thousands of stacks of paper, and if ink were never to fail me, and if my pen were able to move like the wind, and if I were to read and recite and embrace love for the Lord—even so, I could not estimate Your Value. How can I describe the Greatness of Your Name? ||4||2||

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: As it is pre-ordained, people speak their words. As it is pre-ordained, they consume their food. As it is pre-ordained, they walk along the way. As it is pre-ordained, they see and hear. As it is pre-ordained, they draw their breath. Why should I go and ask the scholars about this? ||1|| O Baba, the splendor of Maya is deceptive. The blind man has forgotten the Name; he is in limbo, neither here nor there. ||1|| Pause|| Life and death come to all who are born. Everything here gets devoured by Death. He sits and examines the accounts, there where no one goes along with anyone. Those who weep and wail might just as well all tie bundles of straw. ||2|| Everyone says that God is the Greatest of the Great. No one calls Him any less. No one can estimate His Worth. By speaking of Him, His Greatness is not increased. You are the One True Lord and Master of all the other beings, of so many worlds. ||3|| Nanak seeks the company of the lowest of the low class, the very lowest of the low. Why should he try to compete with the great? In that place where the lowly are cared for—there, the Blessings of Your Glance of Grace rain down. ||4||3||

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Greed is a dog; falsehood is a filthy street-sweeper. Cheating is eating a rotting carcass. Slandering others is putting the filth of others into your own mouth. The fire of anger is the outcaste who burns dead bodies at the crematorium. I am caught in these tastes and flavors, and in self-conceited praise. These are my actions, O my Creator! ||1|| O Baba, speak only that which will bring you honor. They alone are good, who are judged good at the Lord’s Door. Those with bad karma can only sit and weep. ||1|| Pause|| The pleasures of gold and silver, the pleasures of women, the pleasure of the fragrance of sandalwood, the pleasure of horses, the pleasure of a soft bed in a palace, the pleasure of sweet treats and the pleasure of hearty meals—these pleasures of the human body are so numerous; how can the Naam, the Name of the Lord, find its dwelling in the heart? ||2|| Those words are acceptable, which, when spoken, bring honor. Harsh words bring only grief. Listen, O foolish and ignorant mind! Those who are pleasing to Him are good. What else is there to be said? ||3|| Wisdom, honor and wealth are in the laps of those whose hearts remain permeated with the Lord. What praise can be offered to them? What other adornments can be bestowed upon them? O Nanak, those who lack the Lord’s Glance of Grace cherish neither charity nor the Lord’s Name. ||4||4||

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: The Great Giver has given the intoxicating drug of falsehood. The people are intoxicated; they have forgotten death, and they have fun for a few days. Those who do not use intoxicants are true; they dwell in the Court of the Lord. ||1|| O Nanak, know the True Lord as True. Serving Him, peace is obtained; you shall go to His Court with honor. ||1|| Pause|| The Wine of Truth is not fermented from molasses. The True Name is contained within it. I am a sacrifice to those who hear and chant the True Name. Only one who obtains a room in the Mansion of the Lord’s Presence is deemed to be truly intoxicated. ||2|| Bathe in the waters of Goodness and apply the scented oil of Truth to your body, and your face shall become radiant. This is the gift of 100,000 gifts. Tell your troubles to the One who is the Source of all comfort. ||3|| How can you forget the One who created your soul, and the praanaa, the breath of life? Without Him, all that we wear and eat is impure. Everything else is false. Whatever pleases Your Will is acceptable. ||4||5||