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143

1and then, it is placed between the wooden rollers and crushed.

2What punishment is inflicted upon it! Its juice is extracted and placed in the cauldron; as it is heated, it groans and cries out.

3And then, the crushed cane is collected and burnt in the fire below.

4Nanak: come, people, and see how the sweet sugar-cane is treated! ||2||

5Pauree:

6Some do not think of death; they entertain great hopes.

7They die, and are re-born, and die, over and over again. They are of no use at all!

8In their conscious minds, they call themselves good.

9The King of the Angels of Death hunts down those self-willed manmukhs, over and over again.

10The manmukhs are false to their own selves; they feel no gratitude for what they have been given.

11Those who merely perform rituals of worship are not pleasing to their Lord and Master.

12Those who attain the True Lord and chant His Name are pleasing to the Lord.

13They worship the Lord and bow at His Throne. They fulfill their pre-ordained destiny. ||11||

14First Mehla, Shalok:

15What can deep water do to a fish? What can the vast sky do to a bird?

16What can cold do to a stone? What is married life to a eunuch?

17You may apply sandalwood oil to a dog, but he will still be a dog.

18You may try to teach a deaf person by reading the Simritees to him, but how will he learn?

19You may place a light before a blind man and burn fifty lamps, but how will he see?

20You may place gold before a herd of cattle, but they will pick out the grass to eat.

21You may add flux to iron and melt it, but it will not become soft like cotton.

22O Nanak, this is the nature of a fool-everything he speaks is useless and wasted. ||1||

23First Mehla:

24When pieces of bronze or gold or iron break,

25the metal-smith welds them together again in the fire, and the bond is established.

26If a husband leaves his wife,

27their children may bring them back together in the world, and the bond is established.

28When the king makes a demand, and it is met, the bond is established.

29When the hungry man eats, he is satisfied, and the bond is established.

30In the famine, the rain fills the streams to overflowing, and the bond is established.

31There is a bond between love and words of sweetness.

32When one speaks the Truth, a bond is established with the Holy Scriptures.

33Through goodness and truth, the dead establish a bond with the living.

34Such are the bonds which prevail in the world.

35The fool establishes his bonds only when he is slapped in the face.

36Nanak says this after deep reflection:

37through the Lord's Praise, we establish a bond with His Court. ||2||

38Pauree:

39He Himself created and adorned the Universe, and He Himself contemplates it.

40Some are counterfeit, and some are genuine. He Himself is the Appraiser.

41The genuine are placed in His Treasury, while the counterfeit are thrown away.

42The counterfeit are thrown out of the True Court-unto whom should they complain?

43They should worship and follow the True Guru-this is the lifestyle of excellence.

44The True Guru converts the counterfeit into genuine; through the Word of the Shabad, He embellishes and exalts us.

45Those who have enshrined love and affection for the Guru, are honored in the True Court.

46Who can estimate the value of those who have been forgiven by the Creator Lord Himself? ||12||

47Shalok, First Mehla:

48All the spiritual teachers, their disciples and the rulers of the world shall be buried under the ground.

49The emperors shall also pass away; God alone is Eternal.

50You alone, Lord, You alone. ||1||

51First Mehla:

52Neither the angels, nor the demons, nor human beings, nor the Siddhas, nor the seekers shall remain on the earth.

53Who else is there?

source: Sri Guru Granth Sahib · BaniDB