Book II / XIII
Shabd is the Water of Life
Again, Shabd is the Water of Life, that gives us immortality and blesses us with life everlasting.
I tell you most solemnly, whoever keeps my Word will never see death.
St John 8:51
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me […] out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water.
St John 7:37-38
Once Jesus when passing through Samaria came to Jacob's Well and sat there awhile when a Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus asked for a drink. But Samaritan as she was, she hesitated to deal with a Jew, and thereupon Jesus said to her,
If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that sayeth to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee Living Water. […]
Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him Shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him Shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
St John 4:10,14
In the Book of Jeremiah we have:
For my people […] have forsaken me, the fountain of Living Waters.
Jeremia 2:13
In the Sikh scriptures we have:
The Word of the Master is an elixir that does away with all desires, the mind gets dyed in Truth and is forever absorbed in Him.
Guru Amar Das, Sri Rag M3
Without Shabd the whole world is in stark ignorance and life goes in vain. It is only a devotee of the Master who gets access to the Water of Life.
The world is in ignorance of Shabd and life is valueless indeed. Oh Nanak! Shabd alone is the true elixir, and a devotee of the Master gets It.
Guru Ram Das, Sorath War M4
The well of the Water of Life lies within us, but attached as we are to the mind, we do not know of It nor partake of It. Like a deer with musk hidden in its navel, we search for It outside all our life and die in the attempt.
Within the body the Water of Life is surging in fullness, but the mind-ridden do not taste It; with musk in its navel, the deer kills himself in endless search for it without.
Guru Ram Das, Sorath War M4
The stream of life is gushing within, and by means of Shabd one can approach It and partake of It.
The fount of the Water or Life is bubbling to the brim, one who is really athirst can get to It by following the Sound.
Guru Amar Das, Vadhans M3