Ik Ong Kar, Sat Nam, Karta Purkh, Nirbhao, Nirvair,
Akal Mukht, Ajuni Sai Bang, Gur Prasad:
RAAG WADAHANS, FIRST MEHL, FIRST HOUSE:

To the addict, there is nothing like the drug; to the fish, there is nothing
else like water.

Those who are attuned to GOD - everyone is pleasing to them.

My Guru, this is so true! Help us to pray, help us to change; heal us from
our addictions.

|| 1 || I am a sacrifice, cut apart into pieces, a sacrifice to Your Name,
O GOD and Master.

|| 1 || Pause || The Divine is the fruitful tree; the Name is ambrosial
nectar. Those who drink it in are satisfied; I am a sacrifice to them.

So if we make maintaining awareness of GOD our top priority, if we make the
Name our "drug of choice" then we will finally achieve soul satisfaction and
freedom from cravings and addictions? Please, my Guru, help us pray for this.

|| 2 || You are not visible to me, although You dwell with everyone.
How can the thirst of the thirsty be quenched, with that wall between the pond and me?

|| 3 || Nanak is Your merchant; You, O GOD and Master, are my capital.
My mind is cleared of doubt, when I praise You in prayer.
|| 4

We need to practice remembrance of GOD through the Name, through Praise,
through Prayer, each and everyday and then we will no longer doubt that GOD
and Guru are True! But the trick is that we need to really do it!

|| 1 || WADAHANS, FIRST MEHL:

The virtuous bride ravishes and enjoys her Husband GOD; why does the unworthy
one cry out? If she were to become virtuous, then she too could enjoy her
Husband GOD.

We complain that GOD isn't blessing us, but we are not doing the practice, we
are not including GOD into all the decisions of our life, much less
"ravishing" GOD. Each of us has just as much chance to find union with GOD as
anyone else. GOD doesn't love any of us less than any other. But GOD rewards,
abundantly, those who actually seek GOD as their top priority each and every
day.

|| 1 || My Husband GOD is loving and playful; why should the soul-bride
enjoy any other?

Yes, why in heavens DON'T we put our effort and concentration into seeing GOD
in every moment today? What other activity is more important?

|| 1 || Pause || If the soul-bride does good deeds, and makes her mind
the thread, she obtains the jewel, which cannot be purchased for any price,
strung upon the thread of her consciousness.

Help us, my Guru, to change, to walk in the Way You speak of.

|| 2 || I ask, but I do not follow the way shown to me; still, I claim to
have reached my destination.

Ouch! I have sure been guilty of that one!

I do not speak with You, O my Husband GOD; how then can I come to have a
place in Your home?

Ouch again! Most weeks I complain about my life far more than I talk to GOD
about it.

|| 3 || O Nanak, without the One, there is no other at all. If the
soul-bride remains attached to You, then she shall enjoy her Husband GOD.
|| 4

I must make GOD and practicing the Naam the top priority in my life, then GOD
will take care of everything else, including healing me of addictions and
egotism. Help me, my Guru, to want GOD as much as You do. And thank you for
this life where I can fill my mouth with Your beautiful and amazing words:

|| 2 || WADAHANS, FIRST MEHL, SECOND HOUSE:

The peacocks are singing sweetly, O sister; the rainy season of Saavan has
come. Your beauteous eyes are like a string of charms, fascinating and
enticing the soul-bride.
I would cut myself into pieces for the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan; I am a sacrifice to Your Name. I take pride in You; without You, what could I be proud of?
So smash your bracelets along with your bed, O soul-bride, and break your arms, along with the arms of your couch.

In spite of all the decorations, which you have made, O soul-bride, your
Husband GOD is attuned to someone else.
You don't have the bracelets of gold, nor the good crystal jewelry; you have not dealt with the true jeweler.
Those arms, which do not embrace the neck of the Husband GOD, burn in
anguish. All my companions have gone to enjoy their Husband GOD; which door should I, the wretched one, go to?
O friend, I am very well behaved, but I am not pleasing to my Husband GOD at all.
I have woven my hair into lovely braids, and saturated their partings with vermilion; but when I go before Him, I am not accepted, and I die, suffering in sorrow.
I weep - the whole world weeps; even the birds of the forest weep with me.
The only thing which does not weep is my body's sense of separation, which has separated me from my Husband GOD.
In a dream, He came, and went away again; I cried so many tears. I cannot come to You, O my Beloved, and I cannot send anyone to You.
Come to me, O blessed sleep - perhaps I will see my Husband GOD again.
One who brings me a message from my GOD and Master - says Nanak, what shall I give to Her?
Cutting off my head, I give it to Him to sit upon; without my head, I shall still serve Him. Why haven't I died? Why hasn't my life just ended?
My Husband GOD has become a stranger to me.
|| 1
|| 3 ||

Kamalla Rose Kaur is a professional writer, theater director, workshop and seminar leader, publicist, events planner and singer.

USA born of Irish descent, Kamalla Rose Kaur embraced Sikhism in 1972 at age 18. She tried everything for over twenty years, including frantic practice of Yoga, until she learned "why Sikhs are so adament about having the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as their only Guru."

The author welcomes comments and feedback: Love&Light. Her articles are available in archives.