I am mentally blind, in the bondage of Maya.

The wall of my body is breaking down, wearing away, growing weaker.

You have such high hopes of eating and living

- your breaths and morsels of food are already counted! ||2||

Night and day they are blind - please, bless them with Your Light.

They are drowning in the terrifying world-ocean, crying out in pain.

I am a sacrifice to those who chant, hear and believe in the Name.

Nanak utters this one prayer;

soul and body, all belong to You, Lord. ||3||

When You bless me, I chant Your Name.

Thus I find my seat in the Court of the Lord.

When it pleases You, evil-mindedness departs,

and the jewel of spiritual wisdom comes to dwell in the mind.

When the Lord bestows His Glance of Grace, then one comes to meet the True Guru.

Prays Nanak, carry us across the terrifying world-ocean. ||4||18||

Aasaa, First Mehl, Panch-Padas:

A cow without milk; a bird without wings; a garden without water - totally useless!

What is an emperor, without respect? The chamber of the soul is so dark, without the Name of the Lord. ||1||

How could I ever forget You? It would be so painful!

I would suffer such pain - no, I shall not forget You! ||1||Pause||

The eyes grow blind, the tongue does not taste, and the ears do not hear any sound.

He walks on his feet only when supported by someone else; without serving the Lord, such are the fruits of life. ||2||

The Word is the tree; the garden of the heart is the farm; tend it, and irrigate it with the Lord's Love.

All these trees bear the fruit of the Name of the One Lord; but without the karma of good actions, how can anyone obtain it? ||3||

As many living beings are there are, they are all Yours. Without selfless service, no one obtains any reward.

Pain and pleasure come by Your Will; without the Name, the soul does not even exist. ||4||

To die in the Teachings is to live. Otherwise, what is life? That is not the way.

Section 08 - Raag Aasaa - Part 009

Says Nanak, He grants life to the living beings; O Lord, please keep me according to Your Will. ||5||19||

Aasaa, First Mehl:

Let the body be the Brahmin, and let the mind be the loin-cloth;

let spiritual wisdom be the sacred thread, and meditation the ceremonial ring.

I seek the Name of the Lord and His Praise as my cleansing bath.

By Guru's Grace, I am absorbed into God. ||1||

O Pandit, O religious scholar, contemplate God in such a way

that His Name may sanctify you, that His Name may be your study, and His Name your wisdom and way of life. ||1||Pause||

The outer sacred thread is worthwhile only as long as the Divine Light is within.

So make the remembrance of the Naam, the Name of the Lord, your loin-cloth and the ceremonial mark on your forehead.