SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: You may chant and meditate, practice austerities and self-restraint, and dwell at sacred shrines of pilgrimage; you may give donations to charity, and perform good deeds, but without the True One, what is the use of it all? As you plant, so shall you harvest. Without virtue, this human life passes away in vain. O young bride, be a slave to virtue, and you shall find peace. Renouncing wrongful actions, following the Guru's Teachings, you shall be absorbed into the Perfect One. Without capital, the trader looks around in all four directions. He does not understand his own origins; the merchandise remains within the door of his own house.

Without this commodity, there is great pain. The false are ruined by falsehood. One who contemplates and appraises this Jewel day and night reaps new profits. He finds the merchandise within his own home, and departs after arranging his affairs. So trade with the true traders, and as the Gurmukh (Truth seeker), contemplate God. In the Society of the Saints, He is found, if the Uniter unites us. One whose heart is filled with His Infinite Light meets with Him, and shall never again be separated from Him. True is his position; he abides in Truth, with love and affection for the True One. One who understands himself finds the Mansion of the Lord's Presence within his own home. Imbued with the True Lord, Truth is gathered in.

Page 57 God is known throughout the three worlds. True is the Name of the True One. The wife who knows that her Husband Lord is always with her is very beautiful. The soul-bride is called to the Mansion of His Presence The happy soul-bride is true and good; she is fascinated by the Glories of her Husband Lord. |Wandering around and making mistakes, I climb the plateau; having climbed the plateau, I go up the mountain. But now I have lost my way, and I am wandering around in the forest; without the Guru, I do not understand.

If I wander around forgetting God's Name, I shall continue coming and going in reincarnation, over and over again. Go and ask the travellers, how to walk on the Path as His slave. They know the Lord to be their King, and at the Door to His Home, their way is not blocked. O Nanak, the One is pervading everywhere; there is no other at all. |SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Through the Guru, the Pure One is known, and the human body becomes pure as well. The Pure, True Lord abides within the mind; He knows the pain of our hearts. With intuitive ease, a great peace is found, and the arrow of death shall not strike you. O Siblings of Destiny, filth is washed away by bathing in the Pure Water of the Name. You alone are Perfectly Pure, O True Lord; all other places are filled with filth.

The Temple of the Lord is beautiful; it was made by the Creator Lord. The sun and the moon are lamps of incomparably beautiful light. Throughout the three worlds, the Infinite Light is pervading. In the shops of the city of the body, in the fortresses and in the huts, the True Merchandise is traded. The ointment of spiritual wisdom is the destroyer of fear; through love, the Pure One is seen. The mysteries of the seen and the unseen are all known, if the mind is kept centered and balanced. If one finds such a True Guru, the Lord is met with intuitive ease. He draws us to His Touchstone, to test our love and consciousness. The counterfeit have no place there, but the genuine are placed in His Treasury. Let your hopes and anxieties depart; thus pollution is washed away. Everyone begs for happiness; no one asks for suffering. But in the wake of happiness, there comes great suffering.

The self-willed manmukhs (one who follows his or her desires) do not understand this. Those who see pain and pleasure as one and the same find peace; they are pierced through by the Shabad (Sound). The Vedas proclaim, and the words of Vyaasa tell us, that the silent sages, the servants of the Lord, and those who practice a life of spiritual discipline are attuned to the Naam, the Treasure of Excellence. Those who are attuned to the True Name win the game of life; I am forever a sacrifice to them. Those who do not have the Naam in their mouths are filled with pollution; they are filthy throughout the four ages.

Without loving devotion to God, their faces are blackened, and their honor is lost. Those who have forgotten the Naam (the Name of the Lord) are plundered by evil; they weep and wail in dismay. I searched and searched, and found God. In the Fear of God, I have been united in His Union. Through self-realization, people dwell within the home of their inner being; egotism and desire depart. O Nanak, those who are attuned to the Name of the Lord are immaculate and radiant.

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Listen, O deluded and demented mind: hold tight to the Guru's Feet. Chant and meditate on the Naam, the Name of the Lord; death will be afraid of you, and suffering shall depart. The deserted wife suffers terrible pain.

Page 58 How can her Husband Lord remain with her forever? O Siblings of Destiny, I have no other place to go. The Guru has given me the Treasure of the Wealth of the Naam (the Name of the Lord); I am a sacrifice to Him. The Guru's Teachings bring honor. Blessed is He – may I meet and be with Him! Without Him, I cannot live, even for a moment. Without His Name, I die. I am blind – may I never forget the Naam (the Name of the Lord)! Under His Protection, I shall reach my true home. Those chaylaas, those devotees, whose spiritual teacher is blind, shall not find their place of rest.

Without the True Guru, the Name is not obtained. Without the Name, what is the use of it all? People come and go, regretting and repenting, like crows in a deserted house. Without the Name, the body suffers in pain; it crumbles like a wall of sand. As long as Truth does not enter into the consciousness, the Mansion of the Lord's Presence is not found. Attuned to the Shabad (Sound), we enter our home, and obtain the Eternal State of Nirvana (the highest paradise). I ask my Guru for His Advice, and I follow the Guru's Advice. With the Shabads (Sounds) of Praise abiding in the mind, the pain of egotism is burnt away. We are intuitively united with Him, and we meet the Truest of the True. Those who are attuned to the Shabad (Sound) are spotless and pure; they renounce sexual desire, anger, selfishness and conceit.

They sing the Praises of the Naam (the Name of the Lord), forever and ever; they keep the Lord enshrined within their hearts. How could we ever forget Him from our minds? He is the Support of all beings. One who dies in the Shabad (Sound) is beyond death, and shall never die again. Through the Shabad (Sound), we find Him, and embrace love for the Name of the Lord. Without the Shabad (Sound), the world is deceived; it dies and is reborn, over and over again. All praise themselves, and call themselves the greatest of the great. Without the Guru, one's self cannot be known. By merely speaking and listening, what is accomplished? O Nanak, one who realizes the Shabad (Sound) does not act in egotism.

SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Without her Husband, the soul-bride's youth and ornaments are useless and wretched…. without her Husband, her ornaments are absurd. The discarded bride suffers terrible pain; her Husband does not come to the bed of her home. O mind, meditate on the Lord, and find peace. Without the Guru, love is not found. United with the Shabad (Sound), happiness is found. Serving the Guru, she finds peace, and her Husband Lord adorns her with intuitive wisdom. Truly, she enjoys the Bed of her Husband, through her deep love and affection.

As Gurmukh (Truth seeker), she comes to know Him. Meeting with the Guru, she maintains a virtuous lifestyle. Through Truth, meet your Husband Lord, O soul-bride. Enchanted by your Husband, enshrine love for Him. Your mind and body shall blossom forth in Truth. The value of this cannot be described. The soul-bride finds her Husband Lord in the home of her own being; she is purified by the True Name.

In the Society of the Saints, peace wells up; the Gurmukhs (Truth seekers) take the Support of the Naam (the Name of the Lord). In an instant, one is born, and in an instant, one dies. In an instant one comes, and in an instant one goes. One who recognizes the Shabad (Sound) merges into it, and is not afflicted by death.