Ang 17

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Believing, all tastes are sweet. Hearing, the salty flavors are tasted; chanting with one’s mouth, the spicy flavors are savored. All these spices have been made from the Sound-current of the Naad. The thirty-six flavors of ambrosial nectar are in the Love of the One Lord; they are tasted only by one who is blessed by His Glance of Grace. ||1|| O Baba, the pleasures of other foods are false. Eating them, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1|| Pause|| My mind is imbued with the Lord’s Love; it is dyed a deep crimson. Truth and charity are my white clothes. The blackness of sin is erased by my wearing of blue clothes, and meditation on the Lord’s Lotus Feet is my robe of honor. Contentment is my cummerbund, Your Name is my wealth and youth. ||2|| O Baba, the pleasures of other clothes are false. Wearing them, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1|| Pause|| The understanding of Your Way, Lord, is horses, saddles and bags of gold for me. The pursuit of virtue is my bow and arrow, my quiver, sword and scabbard. To be distinguished with honor is my drum and banner. Your Mercy is my social status. ||3|| O Baba, the pleasures of other rides are false. By such rides, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1|| Pause|| The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is the pleasure of houses and mansions. Your Glance of Grace is my family, Lord. The Hukam of Your Command is the pleasure of Your Will, Lord. To say anything else is far beyond anyone’s reach. O Nanak, the True King does not seek advice from anyone else in His decisions. ||4|| O Baba, the pleasure of other sleep is false. By such sleep, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. ||1|| Pause||4||7||

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: With the body of saffron, and the tongue a jewel, and the breath of the body pure fragrant incense; with the face anointed at the sixty-eight holy places of pilgrimage, and the heart illuminated with wisdom—with that wisdom, chant the Praises of the True Name, the Treasure of Excellence. ||1|| O Baba, other wisdom is useless and irrelevant. If falsehood is practiced a hundred times, it is still false in its effects. ||1|| Pause|| You may be worshipped and adored as a Pir (a spiritual teacher); you may be welcomed by all the world; you may adopt a lofty name, and be known to have supernatural spiritual powers—even so, if you are not accepted in the Court of the Lord, then all this adoration is false. ||2|| No one can overthrow those who have been established by the True Guru. The Treasure of the Naam, the Name of the Lord, is within them, and through the Naam, they are radiant and famous. They worship the Naam, and they believe in the Naam. The True One is forever Intact and Unbroken. ||3|| When the body mingles with dust, what happens to the soul? All clever tricks are burnt away, and you shall depart crying. O Nanak, those who forget the Naam—what will happen when they go to the Court of the Lord? ||4||8||

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: The virtuous wife exudes virtue; the unvirtuous suffer in misery. If you long for your Husband Lord, O soul- bride, you must know that He is not met by falsehood. No boat or raft can take you to Him. Your Husband Lord is far away. ||1|| My Lord and Master is Perfect; His Throne is Eternal and Immovable. One who attains perfection as Gurmukh, obtains the Immeasurable True Lord. ||1|| Pause|| The Palace of the Lord God is so beautiful. Within it, there are gems, rubies, pearls and flawless diamonds. A fortress of gold surrounds this Source of Nectar. How can I climb up to the Fortress without a ladder? By meditating on the Lord, through the Guru, I am blessed and exalted. ||2|| The Guru is the Ladder, the Guru is the Boat, and the Guru is the Raft to take me to the Lord’s Name. The Guru is the Boat to carry me across the world-ocean; the Guru is the Sacred Shrine of Pilgrimage, the Guru is the Holy River. If it pleases Him, I bathe in the Pool of Truth, and become radiant and pure. ||3|| He is called the Most Perfect of the Perfect. He sits upon His Perfect Throne. He looks so Beautiful in His Perfect Place. He fulfills the hopes of the hopeless. O Nanak, if one obtains the Perfect Lord, how can his virtues decrease? ||4||9||

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Come, my dear sisters and spiritual companions; hug me close in your embrace. Let’s join together, and tell stories of our All-powerful Husband Lord. All Virtues are in our True Lord and Master; we are utterly without virtue. ||1|| O Creator Lord, all are in Your Power. I dwell upon the One Word of the Shabad. You are mine—what else do I need? ||1|| Pause|| Go, and ask the happy soul-brides, “By what virtuous qualities do you enjoy your Husband Lord?” “We are adorned with intuitive ease, contentment and sweet words. We meet with our Beloved, the Source of Joy, when we listen to the Word of the Guru’s Shabad.”||2|| You have so many Creative Powers, Lord; Your Bountiful Blessings are so Great. So many of Your beings and creatures praise You day and night. You have so many forms and colors, so many classes, high and low. ||3|| Meeting the True One, Truth wells up. The truthful are absorbed into the True Lord. Intuitive understanding is obtained and one is welcomed with honor, through the Guru’s Word, filled with the Fear of God. O Nanak, the True King absorbs us into Himself. ||4||10||