Bilaval

|| 13 || 1 || SUDH || BILAAVAL, THE WORD OF THE DEVOTEES. KABEER JEE:

CREATIVE BEING PERSONIFIED BY GURU‟S GRACE:

This world is a drama; no one can remain here. Walk the straight path; otherwise, you will be pushed around. || 1 || Pause || The children, the young and the old, O Siblings of Destiny, will be taken away by the Messenger of Death. The Lord has made the poor man a mouse, and the cat of Death is eating him up. || 1 || It gives no special consideration to either the rich or the poor. The king and his subjects are equally killed; such is the power of Death. || 2 || Those who are pleasing to the Lord are the servants of the Lord; their story is unique and singular. They do not come and go, and they never die; they remain with the Supreme Lord God. || 3 || Know this in your soul, that by renouncing your children, spouse, wealth and property — says Kabeer, listen, O Saints — you shall be united with the Lord of the Universe. || 4 || 1 || BILAAVAL: I do not read books of knowledge, and I do not understand the debates. I have gone insane, chanting and hearing the Glorious Praises of the Lord. || 1 || O my father, I have gone insane; the whole world is sane, and I am insane. I am spoiled; let no one else be spoiled like me. || 1 || Pause || I have not made myself go insane — the Lord made me go insane. The True Guru has burnt away my doubt. || 2 || I am spoiled; I have lost my intellect. Let no one go astray in doubt like me. || 3 || He alone is insane, who does not understand himself. When he understands himself, then he knows the One Lord. || 4 || One who is not intoxicated with the Lord now, shall never be intoxicated. Says Kabeer, I am imbued with the Lord‟s Love. || 5 || 2 || BILAAVAL: Abandoning his household, he may go to the forest, and live by eating roots; but even so, his sinful, evil mind does not renounce corruption. || 1 || How can anyone be saved? How can anyone cross over the terrifying world-ocean? Save me, save me, O my Lord! Your humble servant seeks Your Sanctuary. || 1 || Pause || I cannot escape my desire for sin and corruption.

I make all sorts of efforts to hold back from this desire, but it clings to me, again and again. || 2 || Youth and old age — my entire life has passed, but I haven‟t done any good. This priceless soul has been treated as if if were worth no more than a shell. || 3 || Says Kabeer, O my Lord, You are contained in all. There is none as merciful as You are, and none as sinful as I am. || 4 || 3 || BILAAVAL: Every day, he rises early, and brings a fresh clay pot; he passes his life embellishing and glazing it. He does not think at all of worldly weaving; he is absorbed in the subtle essence of the Lord, Har, Har. || 1 || Who in our family has ever chanted the Name of the Lord? Ever since this worthless son of mine began chanting with his mala, we have had no peace at all! || 1 || Pause || Listen, O my sisters-in-law, a wondrous thing has happened! This boy has ruined our weaving business. Why didn‟t he simply die? || 2 || O mother, the One Lord, the Lord and Master, is the source of all peace. The Guru has blessed me with His Name. He preserved the honor of Prahlaad, and destroyed Harnaakhash with his nails. || 3 || I have renounced the gods and ancestors of my house, for the Word of the Guru‟s Shabad. Says Kabeer, God is the Destroyer of all sins; He is the Saving Grace of His Saints. || 4 || 4 || BILAAVAL: There is no king equal to the Lord. All these lords of the world last for only a few days, putting on their false displays. || 1 || Pause || How can Your humble servant waver? You spread Your shadow over the three worlds. Who can raise his hand against Your humble servant? No one can describe the Lord‟s expanse. || 1 || Remember Him, O my thoughtless and foolish mind, and the unstruck melody of the sound current will resonate and resound. Says Kabeer, my skepticism and doubt have been dispelled; the Lord has exalted me, as He did Dhroo and Prahlaad. || 2 || 5 || BILAAVAL: Save me! I have disobeyed You. I have not practiced humility, righteousness or devotional worship; I am proud and egotistical, and I have taken a crooked path. || 1 || Pause || Believing this body to be immortal, I pampered it, but it is a fragile and perishable vessel. Forgetting the Lord who formed, fashioned and embellished me, I have become attached to another. || 1 || I am Your thief; I cannot be called holy. I have fallen at Your feet, seeking Your Sanctuary. Says Kabeer, please listen to this prayer of mine, O Lord; please do not send me sommons of the Messenger of Death. || 2 || 6 || BILAAVAL: I stand humbly at Your Court. Who else can take care of me, other than You? Please open Your door, and grant me the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan. || 1 || Pause || You are the richest of the rich, generous and unattached. With my ears, I listen to Your Praises. From whom should I beg? I see that all are beggars. My salvation comes only from You. || 1 || You blessed Jai Dayv, Naam Dayv and Sudaamaa the Brahmin with Your infinite mercy. Says Kabeer, You are the All-powerful Lord, the Great Giver; in an instant, You bestow the four great blessings. || 2 || 7 || BILAAVAL: He has a walking stick, ear-rings, a patched coat and a begging bowl.

Wearing the robes of a beggar, he wanders around, deluded by doubt. || 1 || Abandon your Yogic postures and breath control exercises, O madman. Renounce fraud and deception, and meditate continuously on the Lord, O madman. || 1 || Pause || That which you beg for, has been enjoyed in the three worlds. Says Kabeer, the Lord is the only Yogi in the world. || 2 || 8 || BILAAVAL: This Maya has made me forget Your feet, O Lord of the World, Master of the Universe. Not even a bit of love wells up in Your humble servant; what can Your poor servant do? || 1 || Pause || Cursed is the body, cursed is the wealth, and cursed is this Maya; cursed, cursed is the clever intellect and understanding. Restrain and hold back this Maya; overcome it, through the Word of the Guru‟s Teachings. || 1 || What good is farming, and what good is trading? Worldly entanglements and pride are false. Says Kabeer, in the end, they are ruined; ultimately, Death will come for them. || 2 || 9 || BILAAVAL: Within the pool of the body, there is an incomparably beautiful lotus flower. Within it, is the Supreme Light, the Supreme Soul, who has no feature or form. || 1 || O my mind, vibrate, meditate on the Lord, and forsake your doubt. The Lord is the Life of the World. || 1 || Pause || Nothing is seen coming into the world, and nothing is seen leaving it. Where the body is born, there it dies, like the leaves of the water-lily. || 2 || Maya is false and transitory; forsaking it, one obtains peaceful, celestial contemplation. Says Kabeer, serve Him within your mind; He is the Enemy of ego, the Destroyer of demons. || 3 || 10 || BILAAVAL: The illusion of birth and death is gone; I lovingly focus on the Lord of the Universe. In my life, I am absorbed in deep silent meditation; the Guru‟s Teachings have awakened me. || 1 || Pause || The sound made from bronze, that sound goes into the bronze again. But when the bronze is broken, O Pandit, O religious scholar, where does the sound go then? || 1 || I gaze upon the world, the confluence of the three qualities; God is awake and aware in each and every heart. Such is the understanding revealed to me; within my heart, I have become a detached renunciate. || 2 || I have come to know my own self, and my light has merged in the Light. Says Kabeer, now I know the Lord of the Universe, and my mind is satisfied. || 3 || 11 || BILAAVAL: When Your Lotus Feet dwell within one‟s heart, why should that person waver, O Divine Lord? I know that all comforts, and the nine treasures, come to one who intuitively, naturally, chants the Praise of the Divine Lord. || Pause || Such wisdom comes, only when one sees the Lord in all, and unties the knot of hypocrisy. Time and time again, he must hold himself back from Maya; let him take the scale of the Lord, and weigh his mind. || 1 || Then wherever he goes, he will find peace, and Maya will not shake him. Says Kabeer, my mind believes in the Lord; I am absorbed in the Love of the Divine Lord. || 2 || 12 || BILAAVAL, THE WORD OF DEVOTEE NAAM DAYV JEE:

The Guru has made my life fruitful.

My pain is forgotten, and I have found peace deep within myself. || 1 || The Guru has blessed me with the ointment of spiritual wisdom. Without the Lord‟s Name, life is mindless. || 1 || Pause || Meditating in remembrance, Naam Dayv has come to know the Lord. His soul is blended with the Lord, the Life of the World. || 2 || 1 || BILAAVAL, THE WORD OF DEVOTEE RAVI DAAS:

Seeing my poverty, everyone laughed. Such was my condition. Now, I hold the eighteen miraculous spiritual powers in the palm of my hand; everything is by Your Grace. || 1 || You know, and I am nothing, O Lord, Destroyer of fear. All beings seek Your Sanctuary, O God, Fulfiller, Resolver of our affairs. || 1 || Pause || Whoever enters Your Sanctuary, is relieved of his burden of sin. You have saved the high and the low from the shameless world. || 2 || Says Ravi Daas, what more can be said about the Unspoken Speech? Whatever You are, You are, O Lord; how can anything compare with Your Praises? || 3 || 1 || BILAAVAL: That family, into which a holy person is born, whether of high or low social class, whether rich or poor, shall have its pure fragrance spread all over the world. || 1 || Pause || Whether he is a Brahmin, a Vaishya, a Soodra, or a Kh‟shaatriya; whether he is a poet, an outcaste, or a filthyminded person, he becomes pure, by meditating on the Lord God. He saves himself, and the families of both his parents. || 1 || Blessed is that village, and blessed is the place of his birth; blessed is his pure family, throughout all the worlds. One who drinks in the sublime essence abandons other tastes; intoxicated with this divine essence, he discards sin and corruption. || 2 || Among the religious scholars, warriors and kings, there is no other equal to the Lord‟s devotee. As the leaves of the water lily float free in the water, says Ravi Daas, so is their life in the world. || 3 || 2 || THE WORD OF SADHANA, RAAG BILAAVAL:

For a king‟s daughter, a man disguised himself as Vishnu. He did it for sexual exploitation, and for selfish motives, but the Lord protected his honor. || 1 || What is Your value, O Guru of the world, if You will not erase the karma of my past actions? Why seek safety from a lion, if one is to be eaten by a jackal? || 1 || Pause || For the sake of a single rain-drop, the sparrow-hawk suffers in pain. When its breath of life is gone, even an ocean is of no use to it. || 2 || Now, my life has grown weary, and I shall not last much longer; how can I be patient? If I drown and die, and then a boat comes along, tell me, how shall I climb aboard? || 3 || I am nothing, I have nothing, and nothing belongs to me. Now, protect my honor; Sadhana is Your humble servant.