Ang 468

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. 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||

SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: There is a famine of Truth; falsehood prevails, and the blackness of the Dark Age of Kali Yuga has turned men into demons. Those who planted their seed have departed with honor; now, how can the shattered seed sprout? If the seed is whole, and it is the proper season, then the seed will sprout. O Nanak, without treatment, the raw fabric cannot be dyed. In the Fear of God it is bleached white, if the treatment of modesty is applied to the cloth of the body. O Nanak, if one is imbued with devotional worship, his reputation is not false. ||1|| FIRST MEHL: Greed and sin are the king and prime minister; falsehood is the treasurer. Sexual desire, the chief advisor, is summoned and consulted; they all sit together and contemplate their plans. Their subjects are blind, and without wisdom, they try to please the will of the dead. The spiritually wise dance and play their musical instruments, adorning themselves with beautiful decorations. They shout out loud, and sing epic poems and heroic stories. The fools call themselves spiritual scholars, and by their clever tricks, they love to gather wealth. The righteous waste their righteousness, by asking for the door of salvation. They call themselves celibate, and abandon their homes, but they do not know the true way of life. Everyone calls himself perfect; none call themselves imperfect. If the weight of honor is placed on the scale, then, O Nanak, one sees his true weight. ||2|| FIRST MEHL: Evil actions become publicly known; O Nanak, the True Lord sees everything. Everyone makes the attempt, but that alone happens which the Creator Lord does. In the world hereafter, social status and power mean nothing; hereafter, the soul is new. Those few, whose honor is confirmed, are good. ||3|| PAUREE: Only those whose karma You have pre-ordained from the very beginning, O Lord, meditate on You. Nothing is in the power of these beings; You created the various worlds. Some, You unite with Yourself, and some, You lead astray. By Guru’s Grace You are known; through Him, You reveal Yourself. We are easily absorbed in You. ||11||