Daily Divine Order from Sri Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar


Sorat'h, First Mehl, Thi-Thukay:
Hope and desire are entrapments, O Siblings of Destiny. Religious rituals and ceremonies are traps.
Because of good and bad deeds, one is born into the world, O Siblings of Destiny; forgetting the Naam, the Name of the Lord, he is ruined.
This Maya is the enticer of the world, O Siblings of Destiny; all such actions are corrupt. ||1||
Listen, O ritualistic Pandit:
that religious ritual which produces happiness, O Siblings of Destiny, is contemplation of the essence of the soul. ||Pause||
You may stand and recite the Shaastras and the Vedas, O Siblings of Destiny, but these are just worldly actions.
Filth cannot be washed away by hypocrisy, O Siblings of Destiny; the filth of corruption and sin is within you.
This is how the spider is destroyed, O Siblings of Destiny, by falling head-long in its own web. ||2||
So many are destroyed by their own evil-mindedness, O Siblings of Destiny; in the love of duality, they are ruined.
Without the True Guru, the Name is not obtained, O Siblings of Destiny; without the Name, doubt does not depart.
If one serves the True Guru, then he obtains peace, O Siblings of Destiny; his comings and goings are ended. ||3||
True celestial peace comes from the Guru, O Siblings of Destiny; the immaculate mind is absorbed into the True Lord.
One who serves the Guru, understands, O Siblings of Destiny; without the Guru, the way is not found.
What can anyone do, with greed within? O Siblings of Destiny, by telling lies, they eat poison. ||4||
O Pandit, by churning cream, butter is produced.
By churning water, you shall only see water, O Siblings of Destiny; this world is like that.
Without the Guru, he is ruined by doubt, O Siblings of Destiny; the unseen Divine Lord is in each and every heart. ||5||
This world is like a thread of cotton, O Siblings of Destiny, which Maya has tied on all ten sides.
Without the Guru, the knots cannot be untied, O Siblings of Destiny; I am so tired of religious rituals.
This world is deluded by doubt, O Siblings of Destiny; no one can say anything about it. ||6||
Meeting with the Guru, the Fear of God comes to abide in the mind; to die in the Fear of God is one's true destiny.
In the Court of the Lord, the Naam is far superior to ritualistic cleansing baths, charity and good deeds, O Siblings of Destiny.
One who implants the Naam within himself, through the Guru's halter - O Siblings of Destiny, the Lord dwells in his mind, and he is free of hypocrisy. ||7||
This body is the jeweller's shop, O Siblings of Destiny; the incomparable Naam is the merchandise.
The merchant secures this merchandise, O Siblings of Destiny, by contemplating the Word of the Guru's Shabad.
Blessed is the merchant, O Nanak, who meets the Guru, and engages in this trade. ||8||2||
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