Ang 661

DHANAASAREE, FIRST MEHL: We are human beings of the briefest moment; we do not know the appointed time of our departure. Prays Nanak, serve the One, to whom our soul and breath of life belong. ||1|| You are blind — see and consider, how many days your life shall last. ||1|| Pause|| My breath, my flesh and my soul are all Yours, Lord; You are so very dear to me. Nanak, the poet, says this, O True Lord Cherisher. ||2|| If you gave nothing, O my Lord and Master, what could anyone pledge to You? Nanak prays, we receive that which we are pre-destined to receive. ||3|| The deceitful person does not remember the Lord’s Name; he practices only deceit. When he is marched in chains to Death’s door, then, he regrets his actions. ||4|| As long as we are in this world, O Nanak, we should listen, and speak of the Lord. I have searched, but I have found no way to remain here; so, remain dead while yet alive. ||5||2||

DHANAASAREE, FIRST MEHL, SECOND HOUSE: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: How can I remember the Lord in meditation? I cannot meditate on Him in remembrance. My heart is burning, and my soul is crying out in pain. The True Lord creates and adorns. Forgetting Him, how can one be good? ||1|| By clever tricks and commands, He cannot be found. How am I to meet my True Lord, O my mother? ||1|| Pause|| How rare is the one who goes out, and searches for the merchandise of the Naam. No one tastes it, and no one eats it. Honor is not obtained by trying to please other people. One’s honor is preserved, only if the Lord preserves it. ||2|| Wherever I look, there I see Him, pervading and permeating. Without You, I have no other place of rest. He may try, but what can anyone do by his own doing? He alone is blessed, whom the True Lord forgives. ||3|| Now, I shall have to get up and depart, in an instant, in the clapping of hands. What face will I show the Lord? I have no virtue at all. As is the Lord’s Glance of Grace, so it is. Without His Glance of Grace, O Nanak, no one is blessed. ||4||1||3||

DHANAASAREE, FIRST MEHL: If the Lord bestows His Glance of Grace, then one remembers Him in meditation. The soul is softened, and he remains absorbed in the Lord’s Love. His soul and the Supreme Soul become one. The duality of the inner mind is overcome. ||1|| By Guru’s Grace, God is found. One’s consciousness is attached to the Lord, and so Death does not devour him. ||1|| Pause|| Remembering the True Lord in meditation, one is enlightened. Then, in the midst of Maya, he remains detached. Such is the Glory of the True Guru; in the midst of children and spouses, they attain emancipation. ||2|| Such is the service which the Lord’s servant performs, that he dedicates his soul to the Lord, to whom it belongs. One who is pleasing to the Lord and Master is acceptable. Such a servant obtains honor in the Court of the Lord. ||3|| He enshrines the image of the True Guru in his heart. He obtains the rewards which he desires. The True Lord and Master grants His Grace; how can such a servant be afraid of death? ||4|| Prays Nanak, practice contemplation, and enshrine love for the True Word of His Bani. Then, you shall find the Gate of Salvation. This Shabad is the most excellent of all chanting and austere meditations. ||5||2||4||

DHANAASAREE, FIRST MEHL: My soul burns, over and over again. Burning and burning, it is ruined, and it falls into evil. That body, which forgets the Word of the Guru’s Bani, cries out in pain, like a chronic patient. ||1|| To speak too much and babble is useless. Even without our speaking, He knows everything. ||1|| Pause|| He created our ears, eyes and nose. He gave us our tongue to speak so fluently. He preserved the mind in the fire of the womb; at His Command, the wind blows everywhere. ||2|| These worldly attachments, loves and pleasurable tastes, all are just black stains. One who departs, with these black stains of sin on his face shall find no place to sit in the Court of the Lord. ||3|| By Your Grace, we chant Your Name. Becoming attached to it, one is saved; there is no other way. Even if one is drowning, still, he may be saved. O Nanak, the True Lord is the Giver of all. ||4||3||5||