SIKH. Ill H
9 8
The Guru replied, ‘ Hail to thee who hast so much devotion ! Thou hast now but few days to live and thou mayest accompany me. Keep thy secret to thyself. I cannot take food or drink from Chandu’s house.’ On hearing this, the lady begged him to take her as his companion to the unknown world.
Chandu was all night meditating further torture for the Guru. He said to himself, ‘ The Guru mani- festeth no pain under ordinary torture, therefore I will cause him further suffering.’ Notwithstanding all the tortures employed, the Guru would not abate a jot of his determination.
For five days the Guru suffered torture and then asked permission to bathe in the Ravi and take his five Sikh companions with him. Chandu might afterwards order what he thought fit. Chandu was very pleased at the Guru’s proposal and said, ‘ When the Guru’s body is cool after bathing, he will certainly consent to his son’s alliance with my daughter.’ He accordingly granted the Guru’s request and said, ‘ Thy life shall be saved, if thou hearken to my words.’
Chandu sent with his prisoner an escort of soldiers armed with swords and matchlocks. He ordered them to keep a close watch on the Guru. They were not to speak to any one on the way lest they should reveal the Guru’s sufferings. They also received orders not to allow the Guru to make any detour, but proceed straight on, and not halt before he had arrived at the bank of the river. While the Guru was bathing and subsequently drying himself, the soldiers were not to address him or interrupt him in any way. They were then to return with him and keep him and his Sikhs in front of them so that he might not escape.
The Guru enveloped himself in a long sheet and set forth. The whole of his body was blistered, and the soles of his feet sore and festered. Looking where he might tread with the least pain he pro-
LIFE OF GURU ARJAN
ceeded very slowly. Seeing his servant Pirana near him he leaned on his shoulder, and emerged from the city by a wicket opening towards the river. Several people bowed as he passed. The bystanders were astonished on seeing him weak from hunger and suffering, and said, ‘ In what a state the Guru is travelling ! ’ His mind however appeared collected and fixed on divine meditation as in his earlier and happier days. His devotion like a mountain which cannot be moved was in no way affected by his bodily pain.
On arriving with very slow and painful steps at the Ravi he took up some of its cold water—recently melted from Himalayan ice—and bathed his feet and hands therewith. He then went into the water and bathed his whole body. Meanwhile he recited with great devotion the Japji, which confers salvation on Sikhs. His men, who were like a halo round him, followed his example. The Guru bowed at the end of his devotions and thus addressed his Sikhs: ‘ I have succeeded in effecting the object of my life. Go to my son the holy Har Gobind, and give him from me ample consolation. Bid him not mourn or indulge in unmanly lamentations but sing God's praises. Let him also restrain from grief the other members of my family. Let him sit fully armed on his throne, and maintain an army to the best of his ability. Let him affix the patch of Guruship to his forehead according to ancient custom, and ever treat his Sikhs with the utmost courtesy. Let him hold Bhai Budha in honour, and in all respects, except the wearing of arms hereby enjoined, adopt the practices of the preceding Gurus. Cremate not my body, but let it flow on the bosom of this river.
Having thus spoken the Guru observed a minstrel approach with a two-stringed instrument, and invited him to take a seat on a pleasant spot near the riVer, sing the Guru’s hymns, and accompany himself on his instrument. The minstrel accordingly began
to sing with great feeling and expression, whereupon the heavenly hosts thronged to listen, to witness the Guru’s departure, and to congratulate him on his victory over torture and tyranny. Some recounted the Guru's deeds, while others listened with admiration. They vowed that the earth itself had not such patience as the Guru. There was nothing animate or inanimate to be compared with him. ‘ He hath shown extreme patience and endurance, though, had he chosen to exercise his miraculous power, he might have averted his sufferings. He hath never meditated retaliation on his enemy; his praise suits none but himself for having endured extreme suffering and heeded it not. He now cometh to us to abide in glory and bliss after his earthly misery.’
The Guru’s death, occurred on the fourth day of the light half of the month Jeth, Sambat 1663 (June, a. d. 1606).
When Chandu’s daughter-in-law heard of the Guru’s death she too abandoned her body, as if it were a worthless blade of grass. Her corpse remained concealed in her chamber and none knew that her spirit had accompanied the Guru’s in its heavenly flight.
Thus did Guru Arjan for his sanctity, his conversion of the Hindus and Muhammadans, his compilation of the Granth Sahib and his assistance to the grandson of his former benefactor, fall a victim to the bigotry and inhumanity of a Muhammadan emperor. 1
GURU ARJAPs
LIFE OF GURU AI^JAN ioi
The temple dedicated to the Guru in Lahore bears the following inscription of his own composition :—
Perform ablution, remember your God, and your minds and bodies shall be free from disease. *
Millions of obstacles shall be removed by God’s protection, and good fortune shall dawn on you.
I have uttered the compositions and the hymns of God.
O my brethren, ever sing, listen, and read them, and the perfect Guru will preserve you.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN
Sri Rag
Life is uncertain and man ought to repent betimes :—
Though only a guest for a ghari or two, man arrangeth his affairs.
He is absorbed in mammon and lust; and, fool that he is, knoweth not that he is but a guest.
He only repenteth after his departure, and so falleth into the power of Death the executioner.
O blind man, thou art sitting on a falling bank.
If thou art so fated from the beginning, then act according to the Guru’s instruction.
The Owner 1 may gather the crop whether it be green, half- ripe, or ripe and fit to be cut.
The reapers 2 make preparations, bring sickles, and arrive on the ground.
They cut the crop as it is measured out to them when the Landlord giveth orders.
The first watch of night is gone in business ; during the second man sleepeth his fill;
The third is passed in idle discourse ; and at the fourth the morning dawneth.
He who gave soul and body never entereth into man’s mind.
I sacrifice and devote my life to the society of the saints,
Through whom understanding entered my heart, and I met God the Omniscient.
Know that Nanakhath ever seen God who is the Searcher oi hearts with him.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 103 The attributes of God:—
I love that true One who dieth not or suffereth transmigration ;
Who, being contained in everything, will not be separated from me though I separate from Him ;
Who removeth the pain and sorrow of the poor, and truly loveth His servant.
Wonderful is the form of the Pure One ; the Guru hath caused me to meet Him, O my mother.
0 my brethren, be friends with such a God.
Accursed is the love of worldly things; no one attached to them appeareth happy.
God is wise, generous, mild, beautiful, and infinite ;
He is the companion, the helper, exceeding great, exalted, and altogether without limit ;
He is not known as young or old ; everlasting is His court.
What we ask Him we obtain ; He is the support of the weak.
On beholding Him sins vanish, and the soul and body are at peace.
If man with single mind meditate on Him, mental doubts shall be dispelled.
He is the treasury of excellences ; ever new and complete arc His gifts.
Ever and ever adore Him; forget Him not by day or night:
He is the companion of those who are so destined from the beginning.
Devote your body, your soul, and your wealth all unto Him ; sacrifice your whole life unto Him.
He beholdeth, He hearetli, He is ever present, He pervadeth every heart.
He cherisheth even the ungrateful; 0 Nanak, God is ever the Pardoner.
God's beneficence:—
Ever and ever remember God and clasp Him to thy heart, who gave thee soul, body, and wealth, and a domed thee ;
Who constructed all the materials of thy body and infused into it immortal light.
O my soul, there is none but God.
Ever remain under God’s protection and thou shalt feel no sorrow.
Jewels, wealth, gems, gold, and silver are all dust.
The affinities of mother, father, sons, and kinsmen are all false.
The perverse man, unclean beast that he is, knoweth not Him who made him :
He deemeth that God who is within and around him is distant;
Avarice clingeth to him, and his heart is attached to pride and falsehood.
Boatfuls of persons without devotion or God’s name come and go.
There is no protector but Thee ; very unfeeling is the god of death.
Saith Nanak, O God, have mercy on me that I may not forget Thy name.
Nothing can be concealed from the omnipotent God:—
In the dust of the saints’ feet are found the merits of hundreds of thousands of pilgrimages, fastings, and mortifications.
From whom canst thou hide thine evil deeds, since God ever present beholdeth thee ?
My God pervadeth and filleth every place.
True is His empire, true His authority, and truest of the true 1 His seat.
The True One exerteth true power in the creation of the world.
Nanak, repeat the true Name to which I am for ever and ever a sacrifice.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 105
The Guru counsels the rejection of worldly pleasures:—
Deeming the pleasures of the world sweet, man partaketh of them, but they prove to have a bitter taste.
He causeth his brethren and friends to love him heartily ; he is vainly devoted to sinful pleasures.
These shall pass away in a trice, and he shall be astonished without the Name.
O my soul, apply thyself to the service of the true Guru.
Whatever is seen is perishable, abandon thy perversity.
As a mad dog runneth in every direction,
So the avaricious man distinguished not, but eateth both what is allowed and what is forbidden.
He who feeleth lust, wrath, and pride shall enter the womb again and again.
Mammon hath spread out her net and placed a bait within it :
The greedy bird is snared and cannot escape, my mother.
Man knoweth not Him who made him ; wherefore he shall suffer transmigration again and again.
This world hath in many ways and forms bewitched man.
He who is preserved by the omnipotent and eternal Being shall be saved.
The people of God are saved by their love for Him ; to them Nanak is ever a sacrifice.
Man during his brief measure of life ought to practise devotion :—
When the herdsman goeth only for a few days to the pasture ground, why should he prefer a claim to it ?
When thy time is completed, thou must depart ; yet thou art arranging thy household affairs. 1
O man, sing God’s praises and serve the true Guru with love.
Why art thou proud of a trifle ?
Like the guest of a night thou shalt depart in the morning.
io6 THE SIKH RELIGION
Why art thou attached to thy family ? everything is short-lived as the flowers of the garden.
Why ever speak of thy property ? Long for the God who gave it thee.
Thou must assuredly depart and leave thy lakhs and karors.
Having wandered among the eighty-four lakhs of existences, thou hast at last obtained human life so difficult to obtain.
Nanak, remember thou the Name ; the day of thy departure is near.
While life remains learn wise conduct:—
0 body , as long as the soul thy companion is with thee, so long thou livest happily.
When thy companion departeth, thou shalt be blended with the dust.
If thou have felt love of God and a desire to behold Him, blest shall be thine abode.
As long as the soul dwelleth with thee, every one will say 4 Sir, Sir,’ to thee ;
But when it departeth no one will care for thee.
Serve thy Bridegroom in thy father’s house, and thou shalt abide in happiness in thy father-in-law’s.
Having met the Guru, learn wise conduct; and sorrow shall never befall thee.
All must go to their father-in-law’s ; God taketh every one away.
Nanak, blest is that happy wife who loveth the Bridegroom.
Some moral injunctions :—
Store up God’s wealth, worship the true Guru, and renounce all sin.
Remember that God who made and adorned thee, and thou shalt be saved.
O man, repeat the name of the one eternal God,
Who gave thee soul, mind, and body, and who is the support of the heart.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 107
The world is intoxicated with the prevailing lust, wrath, and pride.
Enter the asylum of the saints, fall at their feet, and thy misery and mental blindness shall be removed.
The practice of truth, patience, and mercy is the best work man can accomplish .
He to whom God the Formless One granteth grace, re- nounceth pride and becometh the dust of all men’s feet.
Whatever is seen, the extension of creation, is all Thou, 0 God.
Saith Nanak, the Guru hath cut away doubt; and I consider all things God.
The Guru addresses God as a child his father :—
Relying on Thee, O Beloved, I have been tnade happy.
Even if I have gone astray, I am Thy child, O God ; Thou art my father and mother.
It is easy to talk,
But to act as Thou pleasest is difficult.
In Thee I repose mine honour and my strength ; I know Thee as mine.
Thou art within and without everything ; Thou needest nothing, O Father.
O Father, I know not Thy ways.
God freeth me from entanglements, 0 saints, and cherisheth love for me.
The Lord hath been merciful, and my transmigration is at an end.
On meeting the Guru, Nanak hath recognized the Supreme God.
Ashtapadi
Better seek God’s protection than join any of the current Indian religious sects :—
I know not what things please the Lord ;
O my soul, seek His way.
The meditator practiseth meditation.
He who is possessed of knowledge may employ his knowledge,
Yet few know God.
The Bhagauti 1 acteth according to the rules of his sect ;
The Jogi claimeth that he alone is emancipated ;
The Penitent is absorbed in his penance ;
The Silent observe silence ;
The Sanyasi, the Brahmachari,
And the Hermit are devoted to their lonely lives ;
The Bhagats worship in nine ways ; 2
The Pandits shout the Veds ;
The householders who practise household duties,
The Eksabdis, 3 Bahurupias, 4 the Audhuts,
The Kaprias, the Kautas, the Jagutas 5 all plume themselves on their religious merits.
Some bathe at places of pilgrimage.
The Nirahars fast ; the Aparasas touch nothing they deem impure ;
Some hide and do not allow themselves to be seen.
Some in their own estimation know everything :
Nobody admitteth any deficiency in himself.
All say that they have found God ;
But it is only the saint whom God uniteth with Himself.
All the above-mentioned efforts
I abandon, and seek God’s protection ;
Nanak, I fall at the Guru’s feet.
The Guru confesses the benefits he has received from God:—
I fall at God's feet to conciliate Him ;
dramas. B Men who watch at night.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 109
The true Guru hath blended me with God ; there is none so great as He.
The Lord of the earth is my Beloved ;
He is dearer to me than mother, father,
Sisters, brothers, and all friends ; there is none like Thee, O God.
By Thine order Sawan 1 hath come,
And 1 have yoked the plough of truth.
I begin to sow the Name in the hope that God in His beneficence will cause it to yield heaps of corn.
Having met the Guru, I recognize the one God ;
I know nothing of any one else.
God appointed me to the one duty; 2 as it pleaseth Him, so I perform it.
Do you, my brethren, eat and enjoy yourselves;
The Guru hath invested me with a robe of honour in God’s court.
I have become master in my own village ; 3 I have taken its five claimants 4 captive.
I have entered Thine asylum, O God .
The five claimants have now become my tenants.
None of them can interfere with me ; 5 Nanak, the village is now thickly populated. 6
I am a sacrifice and devote myself to Thee,
O my Sovereign ; on Thee alone I meditate.
Thou hast re-peopled a ruined village: I am a sacrifice unto Thee.
I continually meditate on God, the Beloved,
And thus obtain the fruit my heart desireth.
God hath arranged all mine affairs and appeased the hunger of my soul.
I have abandoned all mine avocations,
no
And I serve the true God.
God firmly tied the Name, the receptacle of the nine treasures in my robe.
I have found the comfort of comforts.
The Guru hath implanted his instruction in my heart. The true Guru placing his hand on my forehead hath shown me God.
I have built a true temple :
I search for and bring into it the disciples of the Guru.
I bathe their feet, fan them, and ever prostrate myself before them.
Having heard of the Guru I went to him :
He implanted in my heart the virtues of the Name, of charity, and of ablutions.
The whole world, Nanak, having embarked on the true boat 1 hath been saved,
The whole creation waiteth on Thee,0 Lord, day and night. Lend Thine ear and hear my supplication.
I have seen and examined every one ; it is Thou alone who graciously deliverest us.
The order of the Merciful hath now been issued That no one should annoy another ;
That all should dwell in peace, and that this should be a benign reign. 2
Nectar falleth in torrents.
I speak as the Master inspireth me.
I am very proud of Thee, 0 Lord ; do Thou accept me. Thy saints ever hunger for Thee ;
O God, fulfil my desires.
Giver of comfort, grant me a sight of Thee and embrace me: I have found none so great as Thou.
Thou art in the earth, the heavens, and the nether regions ; Thou art contained in every place, saith Nanak; Thou art the true support of the saints.
I am the wrestler of the Lord :
Having met the Guru I put on a tall turban. 3
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN hi
All are assembled for the wrestling ; God Himself is seated to behold it.
The music of the drums and clarions striketh up ;
The wrestlers enter the arena and walk round.
I have vanquished the five youths— the deadly sins ;—the Guru patted me on the back.
All came together to see the wrestling ,
And they shall take their various ways homewards.
The holy have obtained profit; the perverse have lost even their capital.
Thou art devoid of colour and marks ;
O God, Thou appearest ever present.
I am God’s servant in every age.
The Guru cut the rope of ignorance which bound me.
I will not again engage in wrestling ; Nanak hath searched and found this opportunity of deliverance.
Chhant.
The happiness of the saints :—
When the Lord is merciful, men bathe in the dust of the saints’ feet.
Nanak hath obtained all things in God who is wealth and property.
Beautiful, 0 Lord, is Thy house ; the saints live in the hope of rest in it.
Their souls and bodies dissolve in love on remembering God’s name, and they drink its nectar ;
They drink its nectar, live immortal lives, and while drinking deem the water of sin insipid.
When my God the Lord of the earth became merciful, I deemed the saints’ society a treasure.