With the soul thou didst meet every one.
Everybody desired thee with the soul;
^Without it no one wisheth to see thee.
Where is that soul now ?
Without it thou art in a sad plight;
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 297
With it thou wert master in thine own home.
With it thou wert distinguished,
With it thou wert fondled ;
Without it thou wert left in the dust.
With it thou hadst honour and greatness,
With it thou hadst relations with the world,
With it thy framework was tricked out in various ways ; Without it thou hast become clay.
The soul neither dieth nor is born ;
It acteth subject to God’s orders.
O Nanak, it is God who having fashioned the body uniteth and separateth the soul from it—
He Himself knoweth His own power.
The attributes possessed in common by God and the saints:—
God doth not die, nor do we fear death ;
He doth not perish, nor do we grieve.
He is not poor, nor are we hungry ;
He feeleth not pain, nor do we.
There is no destroyer but God ;
He liveth and giveth us life.
He hath no entanglements, nor have we ;
He hath no worldly occupations, nor have we ;
He hath no impurity, nor have we—
When He is glad, we are ever happy—
He hath no anxiety, nor have we ;
He is not defiled by the world, nor are we ;
He feeleth no hunger, and we no thirst.
If He is pure, we are so also.
We are nothing, He is the only Being :
He alone is the beginning and end.
O Nanak, the Guru hath dispelled and shattered our doubts. We and God, having become united, have assumed the same colour.
The advantages of loving the Lord:—
By love for the Lord happiness is ever obtained,
By love for the Lord we feel no misery.
By love for the Lord the filth of pride is washed away, By love for the Lord man is ever pure.
Hear, my friend, bear love and affection to God,
Who is our life and soul and the support of every heart. By love for God all treasure is obtained,
By love for God the pure Name entereth the heart,
By love for God man is ever honoured,
By love for God anxiety is erased,
By love for God man crosseth the terrible ocean,
By love for God man feareth not Death,
By love for God all are saved,
By love for God He goeth with us.
No erring man may by himself meet God.
He to whom God is merciful joineth the society of the saints.
Saith Nanak, I am a sacrifice unto Thee, O God ;
Thou art the shelter and strength of the saints.
The proud and rich oppressor is brought to his level by death :—
Man becoming a king, exerciseth dominion ;
Committing oppression he acquireth wealth;
Amassing and amassing he filleth his coffers ;
But God taketh his wealth from him and bestoweth it on another.
The body is an unbaked earthen vessel with water therein, Yet man becometh very proud of it.
He becometh fearless and reckless,
And never thinketh of the Creator who is with him.
He raiseth and collecteth armies,
But when the breath leaveth him he becometh ashes.
He possesseth lofty mansions, seraglios and queens, ^Elephants and teams of horses to delight his heart,
A large family of sons and daughters ;
But through love of them the fool dieth in great affliction. He who created him, destroyeth him.
Pleasures and enjoyments are like a dream.
He is emancipated, he possesseth empire and wealth,
O Nanak, to whom the Lord is merciful.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 299
The condition of the regenerate :—
The order of the Beloved is sweet to me;
My Spouse hath divorced my co-wife who obeyed not His order .
My Beloved hath decorated me His happy married wife,
And slaked the burning of my heart.
It is well that I did the bidding of the Beloved ;
I have known what happiness and tranquillity are with Him.
I am the handmaiden, the servant of the Beloved
Who is indestructible, inaccessible, and infinite.
I will take a fan and wave it over my Beloved.
The five deadly sins which tormented me have fled.
I am not of high family, nor am I beautiful;
I know not how I have pleased my Spouse.
Though I am helpless, poor, and unhonoured,
My Spouse hath taken my hand and made me His queen.
When first I saw my Beloved Friend,
I obtained happiness and tranquillity, and blest was my married life.
Saith Nanak, my desires have been fulfilled.
The true Guru hath united me with God, the Lord of excellences.
The following is a description of Maya, or worldly love:—
On her forehead is a frown, 1 her look is sour,
Bitter is her speech, rude her tongue ;
She is ever hungry, she thinketh God is distant and seeth her not .
Such a female hath the one God created.
She hath devoured the whole world except those whom the Guru hath protected, my brethren.
Casting a net of deception she watcheth till the whole world fall therein .
She hath bewitched Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv.
Only the pious who love the Name have not been dishonoured by her.
Men grow weary performing fasting, vows, and expiations ;
They wander to the banks of sacred streams over the whole earth;
But only those who have sought the true Guru’s shelter are saved.
The whole world is bound by the love of Maya.
The obstinate and the foolish are consumed by pride.
Guru Nanak hath taken mine arm and protected me.
God’s praises ; His name man’s only support:—
I am a purchased slave ; Thou, O Lord, art my true Master;
My soul and body, yea, everything is Thine.
O Lord, Thou art the honour of the unhonoured; I put my trust in Thee.
Know that he who hath other support than the True One is feeble.
Thine empire is boundless ; no one knoweth its limit.
He who meeteth the true Guru, walketh according to Thy will.
Device and cunning are of no avail.
Receive, O man, the happiness which the Lord being pleased conferreth on thee.
Even though thou perform millions of ceremonies, they will not avail thee.
The slave Nanak hath made the Name his support and forsaken all other calling.
The following was addressed by the Guru to his mother:—
If the invisible and infinite Lord dwell a little in my heart,
O my mother, my troubles, pains, and infirmities shall all vanish.
I am a sacrifice to my Master.
My soul and body are very happy repeating His name.
I have heard a little regarding that true Lord.
I have obtained happiness upon happiness, 0 my mother, which cannot be estimated.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 301
On beholding Him with mine eyes I was pleased, and began to long for Him.
0 mother, I am without excellences, yet God Himself hath attached me to His skirt.
God is totally beyond the Veds and the books of the world ;
Nanak’s King hath openly manifested Himself.
Magnification of the Lord who ought to be served and remembered by His frail creatures:—
• Hundreds of thousands of saints worship Thee, uttering ‘ Beloved, Beloved ! *
In what way shall I who am without virtues and sinful meet Thee, O my life ?
Thou art my prop, O Lord, Sustainer of the earth, and merciful God ;
Thou art the Lord of all ; the whole creation is Thine.
Thou art ever the Helper of the saints, and they behold Thee ever present.
They who are without the Name die lamenting.
Transmigration is at an end for those who embrace the Lord’s service.
What shall be the condition of those who forget the Name ?
The whole world is like trespassing cattle. 1
Saith Nanak, O God, do Thou Thyself cut off my shackles and blend me with Thee.
Instruction to the human race:—
O man, forgetting all other things, think only of the one God ;
Put aside false pride and offer Him thy soul and body;
Praise thou the Creator during the eight watches of the day.
, I live by Thy gifts, O God, show mercy unto me.
0 man, do that work by which thy countenance may be bright. 2
O man, construct such a house as shall never fall.
If thou put the one God in thy heart, thoushalt never die.
God is dear to those who are pleasing to Him ;
And by the Guru’s favour, 0 Nanak, they praise Him the Ineffable.
The bliss of those who devote their thoughts to God:—
What men are they who forget not the Name ?
They are as God ; know that there is no difference between Him and them.
The souls and bodies of those who meet Thee, O Lord, are happy.
They obtain happiness ; all their sorrows are dispelled by the favour of the saints,
By whom are saved all countries and worlds.
They are perfect saints in whose hearts Thou, O God, dwellest.
He whom Thou acknowledgest is acknowledged.
He is illustrious, accepted, and famous everywhere.
O true King, fulfil Nanak’s desire
To adore and remember Thee day and night at every breath.
Man ought ever to attend to his devotions:—
O thou, the prey of sloth, why sleepest thou forgetting the Name ?
How many float away to perdition on this river of life !
O man, embark on the boat of God’s feet and cross over.
During the eight watches of the day sing God’s praises in the company of the saints.
Thou enjoyest various pleasures, but they are empty without the Name.
Without God’s service thou shalt weep thyself to death.
Thou dressest, eatest, and perfumest thyself and rubbest on batna, 1
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 303
But, without remembering God’s name, thy body shall assuredly depart and become dust.
This world is very difficult to cross : only a few know this.
They who seek God’s protection, O.Nanak, shall be saved; this is God’s law.
The Guru calls upon his saints to join him in worship and arrive at a state of exaltation:—
Come, my friends, let us meet and enjoy every relish ;
Having met let us repeat God’s ambrosial name so that our sins may be blotted out.
Meditate on the Real Thing, 0 ye saints, that no troubles may befall you.
The pious are on the alert, and have destroyed all the thieves. 1
Take wisdom and humility as your viaticum, and destroy the sin of pride.
True is the shop, 2 perfect the traffic ; deal in the ware of the Name.
They who offer up their souls, bodies, and wealth are held in honour.
They who are pleasing to their Lord enjoy themselves.
Fools of weak understanding who drink wine become whore-masters.
They who are saturated with God’s elixir, Nanak, are the true drinkers.
The Guru, as handmaiden of the Lord, offers Him homage :—
The God whose handmaiden I am, is the most exalted of all :
Everything whether small or great is His.
My soul, my life, and my wealth are admittedly the Lord’s.
I am accounted the handmaiden of Him through whose Name I have become pure.
O Thou, who art independent and full of joy, Thy name is a jewel and a diamond.
? The company of the saints.
She whose Lord Thou art, roameth satisfied and ever happy.
Ye friends and companions of my association, implant in me right understanding,
That I may serve the saints with love, and thus obtain God’s treasure..
All are handmaidens of God ; all call Him Master,
But it is only she whom God adometh, O Nanak, who abideth in happiness.
The duties of the holy handmaiden :—
Become the handmaiden of the saints and learn thy duties :
The highest of all virtues is not to deem thy Spouse afar.
• Dye thy soul with the beautiful madder of God’s name.
Abandon devices and cunning, and know that God is with thee.
Make obedience to thy Spouse’s words thine ornaments ;
Chew forgetfulness of the world as thy betel;
Make the Guru’s instruction thy lamp, and spread the couch of virtue.
Stand with clasped hands all day long, and thou shalt meet the sovereign God.
She who is pleasing to the Creator possesseth all discretion and ornaments ;
She is endowed with peerless beauty, O Nanak, and is a happy wife.
The advantages conferred by the Guru:—
As long as I have mental doubts I stray in devious paths :
When the Guru dispelled my doubts I obtained rest.
The evil passions which tormented me have left me through the Guru :
I have escaped from them, and they have escaped from me.
Man is entangled from the moment he thinketh that worldly things are private property.
I have escaped from entanglements since the Guru dispelled my spiritual ignorance.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 305
Man suffereth as long as he knoweth not the will of God.
He is happy when, meeting the Guru, he recognizeth God’s will.
I have no enemy to torment me, nor doth any one appear to me to be evil. 1
.. The servant who serveth the Guru, O Nanak, is a slave of the Lord.
Devotion is pleasing to the Lord and procures the fulfilment of desires :—
Sing God’s praises and thou shalt obtain great happiness, comfort, and delight.
If the true Guru give His name, evil influences 2 shall be removed.
I am ever and ever a sacrifice to my Guru ;
I devote myself to the Guru by meeting whom I have obtained my real object.
He who remembereth not God believeth in good and bad omens.
Death approacheth not him who is pleasing to the Lord.
The Name is superior to all gifts, charity, devotion, and penance.
All his desires shall be fulfilled who repeateth God’s name.
His fear is no more, his errors and worldly love have fled, and he seeth none but God.
Nanak, if the supreme Being preserve, no sorrow shall befall us.
The Guru sings God’s praises on every occasion :—
I sing God’s praises at home, I sing them abroad, I sing them awaking in the morning.
I, who deal in God’s name, have obtained it as my viaticum from the Guru ,
And completely forgotten all things beside.
The perfect Guru hath given me the gift of the Name ; it is my only support.
SIKH. Ill
In woe 1 sing God's praises, in weal I sing them ; on my way I remember them.
The Guru hath firmly fixed the Name in my heart and slaked my thirst.
I sing God's praises by day, I sing them by night, I sing them with my tongue at every breath.
The faith that God is with us whether alive or dead resulteth from association with the saints.
Bestow this gift, O God, upon Thy slave Nanak, that he may clasp to his heart the dust of the saints’ feet,
That he may hear of God with his ears, behold Him with his eyes, and put the Guru’s feet on his forehead.
Man must die at last, and his only hope is in God:—
The body which thou deemest permanent is only a two days’ guest.
Children, wife, home, all thy property—the love of all these things is transitory.
O man, why laughest thou ?
If thou look attentively, these things are like an enchanted city ; 1 profit is only obtained by worshipping God.
Clothes worn on the body fall to tatters after two or four days ;
However much thou runnest upon a wall, thou shalt at last arrive at its end ; 2
Salt at once melteth if put into a pitcher of water ;
So when the order of the Supreme Being arriveth, the soul must depart in a trice.
O maa, thy walking, thy sitting, and thy breathing are all counted.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 307
Ever sing God’s praises, Nanak, and thou shalt be saved under the shelter of the true Guru’s feet.
The blessings obtained when God mercifully grants the true Guru:—
When God is merciful,
What is reversed becometh straight, and slanderers and enemies become friends.
The jewel of divine knowledge shineth in the darkness, and the impure understanding becometh purified.
When I met the true Guru I obtained happiness, prosperity, and the fruit of God’s name.
No one knew me, despicable 1 that I was, but now I have become famous throughout the world.
Formerly no one would allow me to associate with him, but now all men worship my feet.
I used formerly to go about begging for paise, but now all the thirst of my heart is quenched.
I who could not endure reproach from any one, have now become patient through the society of the saints.
What praises of Him who is totally beyond reach can be uttered by a single tongue ?
Thy servant Nanak is in Thy sanctuary ; make him Thy slave of slaves.
Man is slow to virtue, but swift to vice:—
O fool, thou art very slow to thy profit, but to thy loss thou hastenest.
O sinner, thou makest not good bargains, but art attracted by worthless things. 2
O true Guru, my hope is in thee.
O man, thou listenest to foul language and art entangled in it, but in repeating the Name thou art indolent.
Thou greatly delightest in slander, and art wrong-headed'.
X 2
Thou covetest thy neighbour’s wealth, son, and wife, and like a mad dog eatest what ought not to be eaten.
Thou hast no love for the true faith ; on hearing the truth thou becomest angry.
0 compassionate to the poor, merciful Lord God, Thy name is the support of the saints.
An exhortation to man to abandon worldly love:—
Thou clingest to perishable things ; worldly love hath bound thee.
Thou thinkest not whither thou shalt have to go : through pride thou hast become blind.
O man, why not abandon the world and worship God ?
' Thou dwellest in a frail chamber : the diseases of all the passions affect thee.
While talking of thy wealth days and nights pass away ; every moment life groweth shorter.
As men are led away by sweet savours, so art thou by false and filthy occupations.
Thy senses are attached to the pleasures of lust, wrath, avarice, and worldly love ;
Therefore the Supreme Being hath caused thee to wander again and again in births.
When He who removeth the sorrows of the poor becometh merciful, all happiness is obtained on meeting the Guru.
Saith Nanak, if thou day and night meditate on God He will heal all thy maladies ;
So, my brethren, repeat God’s name.
And He who removeth the sorrows of the poor, shall become merciful, and the pains of birth and death vanish.
For the unworthy pleasures of a moment man forfeits This future "happiness:—
For the fleeting pleasure of lust, thou shalt suffer misery for endless time. J
For the enjoyment of a ghari or two, thou shalt repent again and again.
HYMNS OF GURU ARJAN 309
O blind one, remember the Lord God ;
Thy time hath approached.
Thou art misled on beholding even for a moment the beauty of the akk, the nim, and the colocynth. 1
As is companionship with a serpent so is an intrigue with thy neighbour’s wife.
For worthless objects 2 thou committest sin, but the real thing is neglected by thee.
Thou lovest what thou shalt have to abandon and thou quarrellest with thy friends.
This is the case with the whole world, but only he who hath the perfect Guru shall be saved.
Saith Nanak, when man is purified, he shall cross over the terrible ocean of the world.
Man cannot conceal his sins from God:—
What men do in secret God seeth, though fools and blockheads deny it.
They reap the reward of their own acts and regret them afterwards.
My God knoweth all man’s devices beforehand.
Deceived by error, 0 man, thou triest to hide thine acts from Him, but afterwards thou shalt have to confess thy heart’s secrets.
Man applieth himself to what God hath applied him : what can any mortal do ?
Pardon me, O Lord, supreme God ; Nanak is ever a sacrifice unto Thee.
The mortal sins, though potent, can be subdued by the saints :—
The five deadly sins subdue the four castes and the four stages of life, and trample on the six religious systems.
They have bewitched and deceived the beautiful, the accomplished, the lovely, and the wise.
Is there any puissant hero or champion to seize and destroy them ?