Lehal Library

ਃ ਃ  ਃ ਃ 143 After cutting away its branches, its feet are bound together into bundles, and then, it is placed between the wooden rollers and crushed. What punishment is inflicted upon it! Its juice is extracted and placed in the cauldron; as it is heated, it groans and cries out. And then, the crushed cane is collected and burnt in the fire below. Nanak: come, people, and see how the sweet sugar-cane is treated! ॥2॥ PAUREE: Some do not think of death; they entertain great hopes. They die, and are re-born, and die, over and over again. They are of no use at all! In their conscious minds, they call themselves good. The King of the Angels of Death hunts down those self-willed manmukhs, over and over again. The manmukhs are false to their own selves; they feel no gratitude for what they have been given. Those who merely perform rituals of worship are not pleasing to their Lord and Master. Those who attain the True Lord and chant His Name are pleasing to the Lord. They worship the Lord and bow at His Throne. They fulfill their pre-ordained destiny. ॥11॥ FIRST MEHL, SHALOK: What can deep water do to a fish? What can the vast sky do to a bird? What can cold do to a stone? What is married life to a eunuch? You may apply sandalwood oil to a dog, but he will still be a dog. You may try to teach a deaf person by reading the Simritees to him, but how will he learn? You may place a light before a blind man and burn fifty lamps, but how will he see? You may place gold before a herd of cattle, but they will pick out the grass to eat. You may add flux to iron and melt it, but it will not become soft like cotton. O Nanak, this is the nature of a fool—everything he speaks is useless and wasted. ॥1॥ FIRST MEHL: When pieces of bronze or gold or iron break, the metal-smith welds them together again in the fire, and the bond is established. If a husband leaves his wife, their children may bring them back together in the world, and the bond is established. When the king makes a demand, and it is met, the bond is established. When the hungry man eats, he is satisfied, and the bond is established. In the famine, the rain fills the streams to overflowing, and the bond is established. There is a bond between love and words of sweetness. When one speaks the Truth, a bond is established with the Holy Scriptures. Through goodness and truth, the dead establish a bond with the living. Such are the bonds which prevail in the world. The fool establishes his bonds only when he is slapped in the face. Nanak says this after deep reflection: through the Lord’s Praise, we establish a bond with His Court. ॥2॥ PAUREE: He Himself created and adorned the Universe, and He Himself contemplates it. Some are counterfeit, and some are genuine. He Himself is the Appraiser. The genuine are placed in His Treasury, while the counterfeit are thrown away. The counterfeit are thrown out of the True Court—unto whom should they complain? They should worship and follow the True Guru—this is the lifestyle of excellence. The True Guru converts the counterfeit into genuine; through the Word of the Shabad, He embellishes and exalts us. Those who have enshrined love and affection for the Guru, are honored in the True Court. Who can estimate the value of those who have been forgiven by the Creator Lord Himself? ॥12॥ SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: All the spiritual teachers, their disciples and the rulers of the world shall be buried under the ground. The emperors shall also pass away; God alone is Eternal. You alone, Lord, You alone. ॥1॥ FIRST MEHL: Neither the angels, nor the demons, nor human beings, nor the Siddhas, nor the seekers shall remain on the earth.