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The Practice |
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1. One must hear, believe in and love the Lord’s Name and bathe at the pilgrim-station within one’s frame. (Jap, 1)
2. The Truth alone saves us, yea, the Truth alone. (Sri Rag, M. 1)
3. If we surrender our body like a woman to our master, He enjoys it. (Sri Rag, M. 1)
4. Thy body is the farm, thy actions the seed. It is watered by the Name of God in whose hands is the whole earth. The mind is the farmer and when the tree sprouts in the soul, one attains to the state of Nirvana. (Sri Rag, M. 1)
5. (Maya), the great deceiver, deceives him not, nor the dagger (of ego) hurts him, who lives as God wills. (Sri Rag, M. 1)
6. Put the oil of Wisdom gathered from the sacred books in thy lamp. Let thy wick be of the thy Lord’s Fear, then fire it wit the torch of Truth. Thus will thy lamp be lighted and thy Lord wilt thou meet. (Sri Rag M. 1)
7. Dedicate yourself to service in the world and you get seat of Honor in the Lord’s Court. (Sri Rag, M. 1)
8. O my mind, keep thyself detached even in thy household. If one practises the Truth and holds one’s desires and does good deeds, one’s mind is illumined by the Guru’s Grace. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
9. They who live with (God’s) Truth forsake not their Lord. They enter into themselves. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
10. They who heard (the Lord’s Name) and believed in it, they entered into the realm of the Self. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
11. Those turned Godwards are devoted to God’s contemplation and true austerity and they hold their desire, for they love the Lord’s Name. (Sri Rag M. 3)
12. By mere talk, one finds Him not. It is when one sheds one’s ego that one attains unto Him. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
13. Meeting with the True Guru, we begin to fear God and, then He of Himself enters into us. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
14. If one practices the way of works, one’s impurities stick to one even more.
(Sri Rag, M. 3)
15. By knowledge alone, thy impurities leave thee not. Ask thou any man of knowledge. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
16. The egocentrics repeat the name of God endlessly, but their dirt sticks to them. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
17. The Guru’s word is the bride’s decoration, and, so decked, she surrenders herself to her Lord. And, with joined palms, she stnds in wait for Him and prays in all sincerity. Such is the bride of true color, imbued with His love, decked in the red bridal robes and living in fear of the Lord. (Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
18. O bride, bedeck thy hair with Truth, wear thou the wear of Love, gathering in the fragrant God in thy conscious mind and live thou in the temple of inner consciusness. Thy soul flowers through the Guru’s Word: this is thy Light and thou wearest the Lord’s Name in thy heart. (Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
19. The (true) bride is she who sleeps, care free, in her Lord’s embrace.
(Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
20. All have merit save myself, and beauty too, but I love my God and I am met with by Him, through the Guru’s Word, and then He forsakes me not. (Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
21. Without the capital, the trader looks about in the four continents in vain, for he knows not the reality that his capital lies buried within himself. (Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
22. He, our God, tests us on His Touchstone with love and attention. (Dhanasri, M. 3)
23. The collyrium of knowledge dispels all fear and one sees the Pure one in His Love. (Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
24. I sought and sought and found my God. IN His Fear, I was united with His Love. (Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
25. I ask my Guru, "Pray tell me how shall I go thy Way." Says he, "Keep the Lord’s practise in thy mind and burn down the agony of thy ego, and thou shalt meet thy Lord in the region of Bliss, for the True One is met with through Truth." (Sri Rag M. 1, Ashtapadis)
26. I am a combatant of the God’s own legion. Meeting with the Guru, the plume of my headgear flutters. And lo, the audience has assembled and the creator Himself watches me (wrestle). The bugles shriek, the drums are beat, the wrestlers have entered into the tourney and circle about. See, how the Five Furies I trounce and humble, for the Guru’s hand is at my back. (Sri Rag, M. 5)
27. Rises the Devotees above ritual, above the domain of the mind; and is awake to the knowledge that the Lord knoweth all. (Sri Rag, M. 1)
28. Everyone says, "I’ve found, I’ve found", but he alone is the devotee whom the Lord unites of Himself with Himself. (Sri Rag, M. 5)
29. Nanak has abandoned all effort, all argument, and seeking the refuge of the Lord surrendered himself to His feet. (Sri Rag, M. 5)
30. When one is in utter distress and there is no one to support him, and the adversaries have gathered-in upon him, and his kinsmen have foresaken him too, when all the props have given way, and all hope is lost, if he then calls uupon God, even the hot winds will touch him not.
If One is weak and naked and is afflicted by hunger and has no money on him, and no one is there to give him comfort and no desire of him is fulfilled no work of his is accomplished, if he in his heart remembers the Absolute God, he attains eternal rule.
If one is full of anxious thoughts and his body is attacked by disease or he is involved in his household and suffers now pleasure, now pain, if he then remembers God in his heart, his body and mind are cooled.
He who is mastered by lust, anger, attachment and a miser’s greed and commits the Four Sins and is being so destroyed and never gives ears to the sacred books and the poesy (of the soul), if he remembers (truly) the Lord in the heart even for the twinkling of an eye, he is saved. (Sri Rag, M. 5)
31. If the Lord’s praise comes out spontaneously, it is accepted, else it is all a vain prattle. (Sri Rag, M. 3)
32. Be thou the dust of all men to tread upon and shed Ego that thy Doubt is dispelled. (Gaur Bavan Akhri, M. 5)
33. Be not cross with another, and search thyself, becoming humble and meek. Thus will you be blest with the Lord’s Grace and be emancipated. (Ibid: Shloka)
34. A Brahmin is he who knows the mystery of Brahma, the Supreme God, and a Vaishnava is he who, through the Guru, imbibes the religion of piety. A warrior is he who slays the evil within himself and then there is no other evil for him to grapple with. (Gauri Bavan Akhri, M. 5)
35. He who conquers himself wins the battle of life. (Ibid: 31)
36. Neither thy distinctive coat, nor knowledge nor forcing of will lead thee to
thy God. He on whom is God’s Grace is the true Devotee. He alone is
truly wise. (Gauri Bavan Akhri, M. 5, Shloka)
37. If intellect be thy organ and love thy tambourine, thou shalt remain in Bliss, thy mind ever in ecstasy. This indeed is the devotion, this the penance of the austere, if to these steps dancest thou with thy nimble feet. The true rhythm is the Lord’s praise: all other dance is a mere pleasure of the mind. Truth and contentment: let these be thy two cymbals, and to see Him ever: le this be thy subtle music. Let the Lord’s Fear within thy mind be thy turning – around in dance. To roll in dust is to know the body as dust. (Asa, M. 1)
38. To slay the self: this is the essence of the six Shastras, and to realize the light of the All – pervading, Perfect God in all. (Asa, M. 1)
39. The Godwards remain loving, pure and immaculate as the Lotus, its roots in mud, waves detached above the water’s brim. (Asa, M. 1)
40. When Thou art our body and soul, to ask Thee for sustenance is to waste one’s breath. (Asa, M. 1, var Pauri 5)
41. We know the Truth when in the heart abides the True God, and we cleanse our body of falsehood and make it pure. (Asa, M. 1, Var)
42. We know the truth when we love the Truth. (Ibid)
43. We know the Truth, when our soul knows the Way and cultivating the farm of our body we sow in it the seed of God. (Ibid)
44. We know the Truth if we receive the True Instruction and are compassionate
to all life and give away our bit in wholesome charity. (Ibid)
45. We know the Truth if we abide on the pilgrim – station of the Self and as is the Guru’s Will, so abide we. (Ibid)
46. They who sow the whole seed reap honour, but how shall the broken seed sprout? First, the seed should be whole, then the season propitious; (only then doth the seed sprout).
(Ibid)
47. In God’s fear, if the (body’s) raw cloth is boiled and then it be mercerised with humility, and imbued it be with devotion, the (body’s) cloth takes on the color of God. (Asa, M. 1, Var)
48. Even if one were to utter by rote the nine grammers and the six Shastras, our Master is pleased not thereby.
Says Nanak: "Contemplate Him ever in thy heart: thus is thy Master pleased with thee." (Dhanasri, M. 4)
49. Read of the Lord, write of Him and hymn and contemplate Him alone that thou art ferried across the sea of existence through word, thought and emotions, dwell upon Him that the Lord is pleased with thee; thus is the Lord’s Name contemplated. (Dhanasri, M. 4)
50. He who tastes the taste of the one Lord alone, is rid of all hungers and his mind is content. He who is blest even with a particle of it, his body and mind are in bloom. (Dhamasri, M. 5)
51. He, our Lord, meets not through effort, nor through service, but meets He (the innocent one) all-too-spontaneously. (Dhanasri, M. 5)
52. Neither worship (of gods), nor fasting, nor a saffron-mark, nor ablution, nor (customary) charities, nor any other discipline is pleasing to the Lord howsoever sweet one speaks. Contemplating the Lord’s Name, one’s mind is at peace. But if one searches Him out in any otherwise, one attains Him not. (Dhanasri, M. 5)
53. He alone is mighty who loveth his Lord in this age. He who conquers his self by the perfect Guru’s Grace, conquers the whole world. (Dhanasri, M. 5)
54. The Lord is my contemplation and austerity and the code of conduct and the ritual. For, in contemplating the Lord is all joy, all peace. (Todi, M. 5)
55. Utter thou the Lord’s Praise, associating with the Saints: thus thou art cleansed of the sins of myriads of (past) births. (Rag Bairari, M. 5)
56. Apply the Collyrium of (God’s) fear to thy eyes, and deck thyself with love. Then alone art thou the true Bride when thou lovest thy Lord. (Tilang, M. 1)
57. Go and ask the true Brides, how did they attain unto their Lord? (Yea, thiswise) that whatever He does, they submit to His will, and neither argue with Him, nor force their will. Through whose Love, one finds the (life’s) object, why stick not fast to His Feet? And do as He commands and surrender our body and mind to Him, and thus make ourselves fragrant. Says the true Bridge: ‘O sister, this is how the Lord is attained.’ (Tilang, M. 1)
58. The vedas and the Semitic texts are superfluous, O dear, (if) cease not the outgoings of the heart. But if one keeps one’s heart whole even for a moment, lo, thee is before him the Presence of the Lord. (Tilang, Kabirji)
59. Let this mind be the holding-ends of the cord and the churning stick be of being ever-awake. And let the churning be the uttering of the Lord’s Name with the tongue. Thus does one gather the butter, yea, the nectar of the Lord. Let thy mind be the abode (of God) washed in the pool of Truth, and make leaf-offerings of devotion, and dedicate to Him even thy life. Thus wilt thou enjoy thy union with the Lord. (Suhi, M. 1)
60. O mind, contemplate the Lord’s Name that yu are emancipated, that you are rid of the sins of a myriad births, and swim across the sea of existence. (Bairari, M. 4)
61. Build the boat of contemplation and self-control that you cross (the sea of existence) unabstructed, as if there were no sea to cross, nor tides to contend with. Such then will be thy easy path. (Suhi, M. 1)
62. He who deals in the Lord’s jewel, buys only it, but they who trade in falsehood, attain not the Lord through vain prattle. The Lord’s Name, yea, the Jewel, the Pearl, the Ruby, is attained when the morn is young and one is attuned to God, in utter devotion. Sowing at this time the Lord’s Name, the devotee reaps an exhaustible harvest. And, both here and Hereafter, the devotees are blest with the glory of the Lord’s riches. (Suhi, M. 4)
63. I’ve embellished myself with Truth, and applied the collyrium of (the Lord’s) Fear (to my eyes); and His Nectar-Name is the betel-leaf in my mouth. I am decked with the bracelets and raiments and ornaments (of virtue) I, the Lord’s Bride, attain all the happiness when the loved Lord comes into my home. Through the charms of virtue have I bewitched my Lord. And, dispelling my Doubt through the Guru, I’ve charmed Him, my God. Now highest of high is my aboe, and forsaking all others, the Lord has owned me a His very own. (Suhi, M. 5)
64. She alone, Nanak, is the True Bride of the Lord of life who subdues all her power and sense of ego. (Suhi, M. 5)
65. He who dies to his self, while alive, alone knows his Lord. And him the Lord meets by His Grace. Hear, O friend, this is how one crosses the impassable (sea of material existence) that one meets with the Saints and sings the Lord’s Name. One should know not any but the One God, and see the Transcendent Lord in every heart, and be pleased with what the Lord does, and know the meaning of the beginning and the end. (Suhi, M. 5)
66. Neither Vedas, nor Shastras, nor Smritis, nor the Semitic texts lead to one’s emancipation. But he who knows the One Word (of the Lord) through the Guru, gathers True Glory. (Suhi, M. 5)
67. I ask my compassionate Guru: "Pray, how is one to cross the impassable sea of illusion?" (And he says): "Walk in the Guru’s way and so die to thyself. Die to thyself thus and cross the impassable sea, and merge in the Lord’s Name, by the Guru’s Grace. This is how one attains to the Perfect Purusha, by gret, good fortune, and attunes oneself to the True Name. And then one’s intellect is illumined . (Ramkali, M. 1, Dakhni Onkar)
68. He who disciplines the mind, endowed with eight miraculous powes, and through deeds dwells upon the detached God and overwhelms the wind, the water and the fire (within), within him becomes manifest the True Name of the immaculate Lord. (Bilawal, M. 1, Thithi)
69. The collyrium of Wisdom dispels all fear and one sees the immaculate One in His love, and knows both the subtle and the manifest, if one keeps one’s mind in its place. (Sri Rag, M. 1)
70. When one meets with the True Guru, one’s doubt is shattered and cease the outgoings of one’s mind, and then of the (mind’s) spring oozes-out (Bliss), and attuned to the Melody of equipoise, in one’s very home, one becomes intimate with one’s Spouse. (Suhi, M. 1)
71. He who dies to his self and, so dying, lives, and merges he thus in the void (of the waveless mind) and keeps detached in the midst of attachments, he is cast not upon the Sea of Illusion again. (Gauri Bairagan, Kabirji)
72. If one sheds one’s lust and wrath and falsehood and slander and ego and love of the illusion and craze for women, one meets with the Real in the midst of the Unreal. (Majh, Var Shloka M. 4)
73. Pleased with the casteless, immaculate, our only God, one stills one’s mind through the Mind. (Bhairo, M. 1)
74. Thou art by Thyself, O detached God, my King. They who dwelt on Thy Truth with a single mind, they were rid of all their afflictions. (Gauri M. 4)
75. This mercurial mind is held and abides in Truth, its real home, when the Lord’s Name is one’s support, and one loves the Lord truly. Then the Creator-Lord unites one with Himself, of Himself. (Ramkali M. 1, Sidha Goshti)
76. Let not the mind sleep within one’s home, nor without. (Ibid)
77. If one seeks to bear fruit, let him start at the roots. (Shlokas of Kabir)
78. If one is hurt, one cries out in pain. But if one is wounded by the shafts of love, one cries not, nor speaks again. (Ibid)
79. Saying, ‘Thou, Thou’, I hae become ‘Thou’, and no mor is the ‘I’ within me. When the separateness between me and the others is obliterated, wherever I see, I see only but Thee. (Ibid)
80. Namdeva, enticed by Maya, asks Trilochana, the devotee of God *, "O love, why print you these sheets and are attached not to God." Says Trilochana, "O Namdeva, I work with my hands and feet, but utter the Lord’s Name with the tongue and cherish my God in the heart." (Ibid)
81. If man cries out the Name of God and sleeps not, God hears him, for constant supplication to Him avails at last. (Ibid)
82. (i) (Like a shy virgin) I’d keep my eyes down-cast with the loved Lord in my
heart, and play with my love in a myriad ways and let not another know. (Ibid)
(ii) The whole day and nght, and every moment, I’d gaze on Thee, O God !
Why cast my eyes down and see Thee not in all hearts? (Ibid)
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* The calico printer.
83. Hear, O mate, my life abides in my Love and my Love informs my life and now I know not which is my Love and which my Self. (Ibid)
84. The Lord is like the sugar mixed with sand. How can one separate it with the mere hands? But, if one becomes an ant, one picks it and on it one feeds. (Ibid)
85. Kabir: If one wants to play the game of love, let him make the ball of his head and play so intensely with it that he is lost in the game: then let happen what happens. (Ibid)
86. If you are a householder, stick to righteousness, else renounce the world. But if you renounce the world and are yet involved, then you are utterly doomed. (Maru, M. 3)
87. Precious, like pearls, is the heart of everyone, so it is vile to hurt. Farid: If yu are in search of God, then break no heart. (Shlokas of Farid)
88. Humility is the word, forgiveness the merit, sweetness of tongue the precius charm to charm the heart of thy spouse. (Ibid)
89. (i) I’d burn my body like a furnace and feed the fire with the bones. I’d walk on my
head if the feet tire, only if I were to meet with my love ! (Ibid)
(ii) Burn not thy body like a furnace: feed not love’s fire with thy bones.
What wrong have thy head and feet done thee? Pray, see thy God within. (M. 3)
90. Make patience thy arrow, patience again thy bow and then aim at the life-object
and, lo, thou winnest by God’s Grace. (Shlokas of Farid)
91. O thou in search of Spouse, something is amiss in thee. For, they who are wedded to God, look not out and without. (Ibid)
92. (i) A mere shawl I’d wear, and all other wears I’d tear up. If this were to lead me to my God, I’d wear only this wear ! (Ibid)
(ii) Why tear thy wears, O Farid, and wear a mere shawl? One attains unto one’s God in one’s very home if one rights one’s mind: (M. 3)
93. My body wears the simplicity of a mendicant; my mind is the temple and I bathe at the fount of my heart. The Word (of the Lord) alone abides in my mind, so I’ll be cast not into the womb again. (Bilawal, M. 1)
94. How am I to cross this world, the sea of poison, pray? Know ye that it is the True Guru’s boat that ferries us across. (Rag Bilawal M. 5, Chaupadas)
95. Says Nanak: "He who sheds his ego and attachment, and sings the Lord’s praise, is emancipated even while alive." (Bilawal, M. 9)
96. Merge thy consciousness in thy God thus, that making thy body a raft, thou ferriest the Sea across. Within thee is the fire (of craving), quench thou it, and then the light of Wisdom will ever burn even and bright within thee. This light then maketh thee swim across the Sea (of material existence), and thy mind is illumined and thou knowest all. (Ramkali M. 3, 13)
97. We are soiled egoists. It is by attuning oneselves to the Word tht our soil is eradicated. (Ramkali, M. 3, 13)
98. As the metal is purged of impurity through fire, so does the Lord’s Fear destroy the soil of the evil mind.
(Shloka M. 3, Var of Ramkali, M. 3)
99. It is in the human body that one finds the All-pervading Lord, through the Guru’s Word. So search Him not without; for, He, thy Creator-Lord, is within thy home.
(Var of Ramkali, M. 3)
100. ‘I’ll bathe not at the pilgrim-stations, nor annoy the creatures of water. I’ll bathe at the fount of the Self, for, all the holies my Guru has revealed to me within me. (Ramkali, Namdev)
101. The burning desert (of the mind) is turned (by God) into a cool refuge; the rusted iron is transmuted into gold; so praise thou that True God of whom there is no equal. (Maru M. 3)
102. Practise thou truth and Truth alone; for, vain is every other attachment. Let this mind be bewitched by the True One alone, and let the tongue taste naught but Truth. For, save for the Lord’s Name, all else taste insipid; and those that are not God’s carry on their heads the load of sin. (Maru, M. 1)
103. He, who Knows himslf, Knows (God), and his soul merges in the Oversoul. (Bilawal, M. 5)
104. Whosoever keeps detached and above (Desire) through the Guru’s Word, he finds his God in the House of fearlessness. (Maru, M. 1)
105. Offer the prayer of Truth on the prayermat of Faith, and silence thy desire and overcome thy hopes, and make thy body thy mosque and the mind the Mullah, and (inner) purity and wholesomeness the God’s Word. The religious conduct, is indeed, the practice (of the Lord’s Name), and (the mind’s) ablution is that one becomes detached the searches (within). And see, O seer, the (God’s) Wisdom is that one overpowers the mind, and meets with the Real that one dies not again. (Maru, M. 5)
106. First, the Lord’s praise, and then contentment and then humility, and then charity of disposition, and last the gathering at a single point of the five (outgoing desires), let one keep these five auspicious times. To see (God) in all: let this be one’s daily prayer, and the abandoning of evil deeds the ablution-pot; and knowing one’s only God, let this be one’s call to prayer, and to be the God’s obedient child, one’s trumpet. (Maru, M. 5)
107. My eyes have seen the light (of God) and now I thirst for Him even more. But those eyes are not these eyes with which is Seen my Love. (Dakhne M. 5, Var of Maru, M. 5)
108. How is one to conquer the beauteous fortress (of the body), surrounded by the three-fold dykes (of the three Modes), and the double wall (of Duality) ? The five elements with their twenty-five categories, and Attachment and Ego and Jealousy–all lean on the all-powerful Maya.
So, what can the poor soul do against them, O God? How can one challenge their might? Lust is the window, pleasure and pain the door-keepers, virtue and sin the doors, and wrath, the great garrulous being, reigns supreme, with the mind turned a rebel king. The coat-of-mail is of taste, with the cap of (mineness) and the bow of ignorance aims at the Self. And the arrows of craving pierce through one’s heart. But, this wise the fortress is conquered not. If love be the match-stick and awakened consciousness the flying bomb; and the fire be of God, lit through equipoise, then with the first attack, lo, the fortress falls. When Truth and contentment fight on one’s side, one breaks through the two Doors, associating with the Saints, and, by the Guru’s Grace, one captures alive the King of the fortress. (Bhairo Kabirji, 17)
109. Let (disinterested) works be the trunk, the Lord’s (Name) the branches, righteousness the flowers, the gnosis the fruit. And Attainment the leaves, and the purging of the mind’s ego the shade. See thou thy (Lord’s) power with thy eyes, hear His Word with thy ears, and utter the True Name through thy mouth. Thiswise are the goods of flory assembled and one is attuned to God in a state of Poise. (Rag Basant M. 1, Chaupadas)
110. Out of all religions, the most sublime is the Religion of God. It is the Dead of deeds, high above the way of works. (Basant, M. 5)