And thus shalt thou in the company of the saints cross the ocean of fire.
Fill thy storehouses with divine wealth,
Nanak, and bow before the perfect Guru.
By repeating God’s name in the company of the saints, Thou shalt obtain rest, comfort, peace, and happiness. Drink the nectareous essence of God’s praise,
And thou shalt avoid hell and save thy soul.
Think in thy heart of the one God
Who hath one form but many manifestations.
Gopal, Damodar, compassionate to the poor,
Destroyer of pain, completely merciful—
Remember, remember for ever His name ;
Nanak, it is the support of the soul.
The saints’ words are the holiest hymns ;
Priceless rubies are those gems ;
He who heareth them and liveth according to them shall be saved ;
He shall be saved himself and save others ;
Profitable his life and the lives of his associates,
Whose heart is touched by divine love.
He for whom the unbeaten music of rejoicing playeth, Shall on hearing it be happy, and sing God’s praises. God shineth in the countenance of the holy man ; 1 Nanak, in his company men are saved.
Hearing that God is able to give shelter, I have come to seek it.
God hath mercifully blended me with Himself.
No hatred remaineth me; I have become the dust of all men's feet ;
And I have in the saints’ company obtained God’s nec- tareous name.
The divine Guru was pleased with me,
And the service of his servant hath been rewarded.
By hearing God’s name and repeating it with my tongue I have become freed from entanglements and sin.
God hath Himself kindly shown me compassion,
And, O Nanak, my cargo hath arrived at its haven. 1
Praise God, my dear saints,
With attentive and composed minds.
In the Sukhmani are composure and God’s praises and name.
He who hoardeth it in his heart shall become wealthy, And all his desires shall be fulfilled ;
He shall become a distinguished person, renowned throughout the world ;
He shall obtain the highest place of all,
And shall not again undergo transmigration.
Nanak, he who obtaineth the Sukhmani,
Shall depart after earning the wealth of God’s name.
These advantages shall be obtained by him who reciteth the Sukhmani,
And heartily heareth Guru Nanak’s words in praise of the Name:—
Rest, peace, wealth, the nine treasures,
Understanding, divine knowledge, all spiritual power, Wisdom, devotion, union with and meditation on God, The best divine knowledge, the most excellent ablutions, 1 That is, I have been successful in my devotion.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 271
The four desirable objects, mental enlightenment, Contempt of all things, though in the midst of them, Beauty, cleverness, knowledge of the truth,
And the power of looking on all men as equal.
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If any one heartily utter this precious hymn ,
He shall obtain salvation in every age.
It containeth the sound of God’s name,
Which the Simritis, Shastars, and Veds repeat.
God’s name is the sum-total of all faith ;
It dwelleth in the hearts of His saints.
Millions of sins are erased in the company of the saints, And by their favour man escapeth Death.
They on whose foreheads God recorded such destiny. Have, O Nanak, entered the asylum of the saints.
He in whose heart this Sukhmani dwelleth or who listeneth to it with love,
Shall remember the Lord God ;
The pain of birth and death shall be removed from him ; His human life so hard to obtain shall that moment be saved ;
His renown shall be spotless and his speech nectar ;
The one Name shall be contained in his heart;
Sorrow, disease, fear, and doubt shall not exist for him ;
His acts shall be pure, he shall be called a holy man, And his fame shall be the most exalted of all.
Nanak, such are the merits of the composition called Sukhmani.
Lunar Days
The advantage of devotion :—
My sorrow hath fled and my doubt departed since I have taken God’s shelter.
Nanak hath obtained the fruit his heart desired by singing God’s praises.
He who singeth, he who heareth, he who meditateth on God;
He who preacheth and he who fixeth the Name in his heart, shall be saved ;
His sins shall be cut away, he shall become pure, and purged of the filth of various births ;
His countenance shall be bright in this world and the next, and worldly love shall not affect him ;
He who praiseth God is wise, a Vaishnav, a possessor of divine knowledge,
Wealthy, a hero, and of reputable family.
The Khatris, Brahmans, Sudars, Vaisyas, and Chandals shall be saved by remembering God.
Nanak is the dust of the feet of him who knoweth his God.
Gauri ki War I
The fate of those who forget God :—
Where shall they who have totally forgotten God find an arm to grasp ? 1
Nanak, God potent to act and cause to act hath ruined them.
The fate of murderers, adulterers, and robbers :—
Men take halters at night and go to strangle others, but God knoweth such persons.
Concealed in places they leer at other men’s wives.
They break into houses even difficult of access, and enjoy wine for its sweetness :
But they shall afterwards regret their respective misdeeds.
The angel Azrail will press them like millfuls of sesame.
„ The fate of idolaters and ingrates :—
It is the servants of the True King who are acceptable ;
Nanak, the fools who serve other gods pine away and die.
The destiny God wrote in the beginning cannot be effaced.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 273
The wealth of God’s name is Nanak’s capital; ever meditate on it.
In terrible hell there is much suffering; it is the abode of the ungrateful.
God smiteth them, Nanak, and they die a miserable death.
Gauri ki War II
Man is happy at all seasons when remembering God:—
Nanak, that is a delightful day when God cometh into the mind.
Accursed is the season, however pleasant, when the Supreme Being is forgotten.
God is man's best friend :—
Nanak, contract friendship with Him who hath everything in His power.
They are accounted false friends who go not a step with one.
Miscellaneous aphorisms of the Guru :—
I have seen every place ; there is none beside God.
Nanak, they who have met the true Guru, have attained their object.
The condition of this perishable world is as a flash of lightning.
Whoever repeateth the Lord’s name, Nanak, is beautiful.
Men have searched the Simritis and the Shastars, but no one hath found God’s worth.
He who meeteth the society of the saints enjoyeth divine pleasure.
True is the name of the Creator ; He is a mine of jewels.
The mortal, on whose forehead such destiny hath been written, remembereth God.
O God, grant Nanak, Thy guest, the true Name as his travelling supplies.
Man appeareth to be happy, but his heart is anxious, and his avarice never departeth.
T
SIKH. Ill
Nanak, without the true Name, no one’s sorrow departeth.
They who have not loaded truth to carry with them, shall be plundered.
Nanak, they who meeting the Guru recognize the one God shall be congratulated.
They who part friendship with God are worthless:—
They who are separated from their Lord, O Nanak, are entangled in the knot of doubt,
And useless as the beautiful fruit borne by the akk plant.
They who forget God suffer the pain of transmigration :—
They who forget God die, but cannot die altogether;
They who turn away from God, are in agony like a thief on the stake.
Blest are they who ever remember God:—
Nanak, blest are they, perfect are they, and saints are they,
Who remember the spell of God’s name at every breath they draw.
The following reproach was addressed to a Musal- man priest:—
Thou wanderest about all day under the pressure of hunger:
How shalt thou escape falling into hell, if thou remember not thy Prophet ?
The following is repeated as a grace before and after meals :—
The beggar beggeth for alms, ‘ Give me, O dear One ;
Giver, Benefactor, I have ever remembered Thee.’
God’s unequalled storehouses are never exhausted.
Nanak, unequalled is the Word which hath arranged everything.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 275
Remember the Word and you shall be happy here and hereafter:—
O beloved, learn the Word; it shall protect yoik, from transmigration :
Your faces, saith Nanak, shall become bright, and you shall ever be happy remembering the one God.
Man should not pray for worldly advantages:—
That is the. best begging which beggeth for the one God ;
Except the Lord’s name, Nanak, all words are sinful.
The condition of him who loves and is beloved by God:—
He in whose heart the love of God dwelleth is like the golden earth studded with gems of grass.
Nanak, all his affairs become easy with whom the true Guru is pleased.
The covetous go wherever they expect gain :—
The kite wandereth in every direction—over water, mountain, and forest,
But only resteth where it seeth carrion.
The Guru’s devotion to God:—
I have made Him a friend who is versed in all arts ;
I sacrifice to Him my soul : He is the wealth of my body and soul.
O Beloved, if Thou take my hand, I will never forsake Thee.
They who forsake God are evil and fall into hell’s torments.
Love the Omnipresent:—
O silly woman, dispel thy doubts, and love thou the only dear One.
Whithersoever thou goest, there is He present.
A hypocrite can never be equal to a saint:—
Persons only fitted to play at bat and ball like children, mount horses and handle guns.
T 2
Animals which fly like bam fowl wish to be on a par with swans.
Salvation is obtained by repeating, hearing, or even writing God's name :—
He who repeateth God’s name with his tongue, and heareth it with his ears, is saved, my friend.
The hand which writeth God’s praises with love is pure.
Such have obtained all the merit of bathing at the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage :
They have crossed over the ocean of the world and subjugated the fortress of evil passions.
Nanak, such attach men to the infinite God’s skirt and service, and save them.
God will save His servant:—
He who hath God hath no further desires ;
Nanak, all who touch His feet are saved.
Asa
Mammon affects not saints but only the worldly :—
Maya devoureth him who loveth her ;
She greatly terrifieth him who seateth her down in peace.
Brethren, friends, and families are at variance on beholding her ;
But now by the Guru’s favour she is under my control.
Sidhs, Strivers, demigods, and men
Are bewitched on beholding her ; except the pious all are deceived by her deceit. *
Some who wander as ascetics are in love with her ;
Others as family men amass wealth, but they cannot make her their own.
t Others who call themselves continent are greatly troubled by her.
God hath preserved me from her by attaching me to the Guru’s feet.
She leadeth astray the penitents who practise penance.
Pandits have been seduced by her into every form of greed.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 277
Maya hath bewitched earth and heaven. 1
My true Guru hath given me his hand and saved me.
Maya acteth as a servant to the holy man.
With clasped hands she waiteth on him and respectfully saith,
‘ What thou orderest I shall do ;
But, O saint, I cannot approach thee.’
The condition of those who have renounced worldly love:—
My Beloved hath separated me from my mother-in-law: 2
My husband’s younger brother’s wife, 3 and my husband’s elder brother’s wife 4 have died of grief and sorrow.
I no longer heed my husband’s eldest brother, 5
Since my clever and wise Spouse hath protected me.
Hear, O ye people, I have obtained the essence of love.
The true Guru hath given me God’s name, and I have killed and destroyed mine enemies the evil passions.
In the first place, I have renounced the love of pride ;
Secondly, I have renounced the customs of men ;
Thirdly , I have renounced the world, and deem an enemy and a friend the same.
Fourthly, having met the Guru I recognize the excellences of the final state.
I have assumed an attitude of contemplation in the cave of rest.
God appeared as light and played for me unbeaten music ;
I have obtained great joy by meditating on the Guru’s word.
Attached to my Beloved, I have become a blest and happy wife.
The slave Nanak herein uttereth divine wisdom ;
He who heareth and acteth accordingly shall be saved,
Shall be absorbed in God,
And not again suffer transmigration.
Holiness is described under the allegory of a perfect woman:—
A house is adorned by the presence of
A woman who is virtuous and devotion incarnate,
Whose beauty is incomparable, and conduct without reproach.
Some rare holy man may find her :
On meeting the Guru I have found such a well-behaved woman :
She sheddeth lustre on feasts and marriages.
As long as she lived with her father, 1
Her husband wandered about very lonely.
When I served and conciliated the true man,
He brought her to my house, and I obtained all happiness.
She possesseth the thirty-two good qualities; 2 true and holy are her offspring ;
She is obedient, accomplished, and beautiful,
She fulfilleth the wishes of her husband and her lord ;
She comforteth in every way her husband’s younger and elder brothers’ wives ;
She is the best of the household ;
She giveth counsel to her husband’s younger and elder brothers.
Blest is the home in which she hath appeared •
The interference of Maya, or worldly love, in human affairs, and how she is to be overcome :—
If I form any plan, Maya alloweth it not to mature :
She standeth near virtue and continence to repulse them;
She weareth many guises and assumeth many forms ;
She alloweth me not to dwell at home, but maketh me wander in different places.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 279
She is the mistress of my house, and alloweth me not to dwell therein.
It I try to do so, she quarrelleth with me.
She was sent by God in the beginning as a ruler.
She hath subdued the nine regions and all worlds.
At the banks of sacred waters she relinquisheth not her hold on Jogis and Sanyasis,
While they grow weary of reading the Simritis and studying the Veds.
Where I sit, there she sitteth with me ;
She forcibly entereth every abode.
Even by entering a low asylum 1 I cannot save myself from her.
Say, my friend, to whom shall I have recourse ?
Having heard of the true Guru’s teaching I have come to him.
The Guru hath fixed God’s name in my heart as a spell.
I now may dwell in my own home singing the praises of the Eternal One.
Nanak hath met God, and is free from anxiety.
My house is now mine own, and its former mistress and ruler
Is under my control ; the Guru hath made me a courtier of God.
The Guru versifies an address made to him by a Sikh:—
Having glanced at foreign countries I have come here for traffic.
I have heard, O Guru, thou hast an incomparable and profitable thing, 2
To purchase which I have tied virtues in my dress 3 and brought them as my capital.
Having beheld the jewel, my heart hankereth after it.
O merchant, 4 a dealer hath come to thy door.
28 o
Exhibit your goods, so that we may effect a bargain. God hath sent me to the merchant.
Priceless thy jewel and priceless thy capital.
I have found a well-disposed friend to act as broker. 1 Now that I have made my purchase my mind is easy.
I have no fear of thieves, of wind, or of water.
Quietly have I purchased, and quietly do I take away my purchase.
When the true Name is gained, there is no regret.
I shall take my purchase home safe and sound.
I have made a profit and am happy.
Thanks to the perfect merchant, the bestower,
Such a bargain some rare pious man hath made.
Nanak taketh home profitable goods.
The following was addressed to a hypocritical Brahman:—
Such Brahmans as contrive evil
For the innocent shall be lost, O my brethren.
With covetousness in their hearts they wander about like mad dogs ;
They slander others, and bear the load of their sins on their own heads.
O Brahman, thou art plundered by mammon, yet thou reflectest not
That in many ways thou art led astray through error. Thou wearest many religious dresses before men,
But thy heart is besieged by evil passions.
Thou preachest to others, but art ignorant thyself.
Such a Brahman shall nowhere be acceptable.
O foolish Brahman, remember God
Who beholdeth thee, heareth thee, and abideth with thee.
Saith Nanak, if such be thy fate,
Renounce pride and cling to the Guru’s feet.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 281
The fate of the slanderer :—
The slanderer roareth and screameth,
He forgetteth the primal God the Supreme Being, and obtaineth the reward of his acts.
Any friend he may have he shall take with him to hell. Vainly the slanderer taketh on himself a load as that of a boa-constrictor, 1 and burneth himself in the fire.
Nanak telleth what taketh place at God’s gate.
God’s saints are ever happy ; they are in ecstasies singing His praises.
Pride mars man's good qualities :—
In the first place, thy caste is good ;
Secondly, thy lineage is honoured ;
Thirdly, thine abode is beautiful;
But the pride of thy heart marreth thy beauty.
O handsome, shapely, wise, and clever man,
Excessive pride and worldly love have ensnared thee. Very clean is thy kitchen.
Thou bathest, adorest, and appliest crimson frontal marks. Thou pratest of divine knowledge while thou art dissolved in pride.
The dog covetousness ruineth thee in every way;
Thou dressest and enjoyest thyself;
Thou performest religious ceremonies to be honoured of men.
While thou sprinklest over thy body perfumed distilled aloe wood and sandal,
The pariah wrath is thine evil companion.
All other creatures are thy water-carriers.
In this world thou issuest thine own coin. 2 Thou hast gold, and silver, and copper ;
But thy lust hath destroyed thy virtue.
The soul which God mercifully regardeth Shall be delivered from its prison.
That body which meeteth the company of the saints shall taste the relish of God’s name,
And, saith Nanak, produce good fruit.
Then shalt thou be like a happy married woman endowed with all comeliness and happiness;
Then shalt thou be all-beautiful and wise.
The Guru preaches a brief sermon on humility
The framework of the body hath been skilfully constructed,
Yet know for certain that it shall become dust.
Remember thine origin, O thoughtless fool;
Why art thou proud of such a thing ?
Thou art a guest on three sers of corn a day ; 1
All thine other property thou hast only as a trust.
Thou art ordure, bones, and blood wrapped up in skin :
Is it of this thou art proud ?
If thou know One Thing thou shalt be pure ;
Without knowing it, thou shalt be ever impure.
Saith Nanak, I am a sacrifice to the Guru,
Through whom God the omniscient Being is obtained.
The Guru’s impatience to meet God :—
Separated from my Spouse one ghari appeareth to me as a day, yea, as many days.
My mind is distressed until I meet my Beloved.
Separated from my Spouse one moment appeareth to me a day ; yea, it never passeth.
Excessive is the desire of my heart to behold Him ; is there any such saint as will cause me to meet my Beloved ?
The four watches of the day appear to me as the four ages of the world.
* When night cometh I think it will never end.
The conspiracy of the deadly sins hath kept me from my Beloved.
Wandering and wandering I weep and wring my hands.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 283
At last God hath shown Himself to His servant, Nanak, Who having seen Him hath obtained supreme happiness.
Instead of worshipping God at home man performs vain devotion abroad: —
Man forsaking the love of God, becometh intoxicated with the love of worthless objects.
He hath what he wanteth at home, yet he goeth abroad to seek it : 1
He listeneth not to the true ambrosial Word.