Farid, these people are ever barking ; 4 who can endure the continual annoyance ?
I have stopped mine ears, and I care not how much wind is blowing.
Farid, God's dates are ripe ; rivers of honey flow past them ; 5
The days that pass in enjoying them are profitable to my life.1
Farid, my dry body hath become a skeleton ; ravens peck at the hollows of my hands and feet ;
Up to the present, God hath not come to mine aid ; behold His servant's misfortune !
O ravens, you have searched my skeleton and eaten all my flesh;
But touch not these two eyes, as I hope to behold my Beloved
O ravens, peck not at my skeleton ; if haply you sit on it, then fly away ;
At any rate, eat not the flesh from where my Lord dwelleth in my skeleton.
Farid, the wretched tomb calleth out, ' O homeless, come home !
' You shall assuredly come to me ; fear not death.'
How many have departed before my very eyes ! Farid, men have different anxieties, and I have mine.
God saith, ' If thou reform thyself, thou shalt meet Me ; on meeting Me thou shalt be happy ;
' Farid, if thou remain Mine, all the world shall be thine.'
How long shall the trees on the banks retain their place ? Farid, if thou put water into a frail vessel, how long will it remain ?
SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 409
Farid, places have become empty and their occupants
gone below ;
The wretched graves take possession of souls ; l
O Shaikh, say good-bye to your friends ; 2 thou must
depart to-day or to-morrow.
Farid, death hath no more a boundary than a river 3 which washeth away its banks ;
When Death appeareth hell burneth in front ; terrible cries and sounds of woe are heard.
To some all understanding hath come ; others wander about recklessly.
Men's acts in this world shall bear witness in God's court.
Farid, the crane4 sitteth on the bank of the river and sporteth ;
While it is sporting the hawk suddenly striketh it ; 5
When the hawk of God striketh it, it forgetteth its sport.
God hath accomplished such things as could never have been conceived.
A body of three and a half mans is moved by water and grain ;
Man entereth the world entertaining high hopes ;
When the angel of Death cometh, he will break open every door ;
He will take man prisoner in the presence of his dear brethren.
Lo ! man departeth on the shoulders of four men, Farid ; but the good acts he performed in this world shall be serviceable to him in God's court.
Farid, I am a sacrifice to those birds l which live in the forests ;
They live on fruit, sleep on the ground, and never leave God's side.
Farid, the season changeth,2 the forests wave, the leaves drop off ;
I have searched in every direction, but found no place of rest.
cm
Farid, tear thy coat into tatters and wear a blanket instead ;
Adopt a dress by which thou mayest obtain the Lord.
Guru Amar Das makes the following reflection on this couplet : -
Why tear thy coat and put on a blanket ? Nanak, if thine intentions be good, seated at home thou shalt find the Lord.
Guru Ram Das has added the following : —
Went away bare from the Lord like a hillock after rain.3
Farid, terrible are the countenances of those who have forgotten the Name ;
SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 411
Here they have abundant sorrow, and hereafter neither house nor home.
Farid, if thou awake not in the end of the night, thou art dead while alive ;
Even if thou forget God, God will not forget thee,
Guru Arjan has here composed the following four couplets : —
Farid, the Bridegroom is merry, and far beyond all need ; To be dyed with God is the true decoration.
Farid, treat pain and pleasure as the same ; banish sin from thy heart ;
Consider what pleaseth God as good, and thou shalt gain His court.
Farid, the world playeth as mammon maketh it play ; thou too playest with it ;
The soul for which God careth playeth not.1
Farid, the heart is dyed with the world, though the world be worthless ;
To be like faqirs is difficult ; their excellence can only be obtained by perfect acts.2
Farid then proceeds : -
Devotion in the beginning of the night is the blossom, in the end of the night the fruit ;
They who watch obtain gifts from the Lord.
Guru Nanak offers the following objection to this doctrine : -
Gifts are the Lord's ; what can prevail against Him ? Some who are awake receive them not ; others who are asleep He awaketh and conferreth presents upon.
Farid continues to expound his doctrines : —
Thou who searchest for thy Spouse, must have some fault in thyself ;
She who is called a good wife never looketh for any one else.
Make patience thy bow, patience thy bowstring, Patience thine arrow, and the Creator will not allow thee to miss thy mark.
With such patience do the patient mortify their bodies ; They thus become near God, but tell their secrets to no one.
This patience is the main object ; if thou, O mortal, adopt it,
Thou shalt become a great river and not a separate branch thereof.
Farid, to be a darwesh at God's gate is difficult ; my love for God is only on the surface.
Few there are who walk in the way of the darweshes at God's gate.
My body is heated like an oven ; my bones burn like firewood ;
Were my feet to tire, I would walk on my head to meet the Beloved.
SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 413
Guru Nanak has here composed the following couplet : —
Heat not thy body like an oven, burn not thy bones like firewood ;
What harm have thy head and feet done thee ? Behold the Beloved within thee.
The following is by Guru Ram Das : —
I go searching for the Friend, but the Friend is with me ; Nanak, the Unseen is not seen, but the pious show the way to Him.
The following couplets have been contributed by Guru Amar Das : —
The crane seeing the swan l swimming conceived a desire to swim ;
But the poor crane was drowned ; and its body turned upside down.
I thought he was a great swan, wherefore I associated with him ;
Had I known that he was only a wretched crane, I would never have touched him.
What mattereth it whether he whom God looketh on with favour be a swan or a crane ?
Nanak, if it please God, He can change a crow into a swan.
Farid thus closes his spiritual instructions : -
In the lake there is but one bird, while there are fifty snarers ; 2
This body is immersed in the waves of the world ; O True One, my hope is in Thee.
What is that word, what those virtues, what that priceless spell ;
What dress shall I wear that I may captivate the Spouse ?
Humility is the word, forbearance the virtue, civility the priceless spell ;
Make these three thy dress, O sister, and the Spouse shall come into thy power.1
CXXV1II
There are few saints
Who, though wise, are simple,
Though strong, are weak,
And, though having not, divide what they have.
Utter not one disagreeable word, since the true Lord is in all men.
Distress no one's heart ; every heart is a priceless jewel.
All men's hearts are jewels ; to distress them is by no means good :
If thou desire the Beloved, distress no one's heart.
BHIKAN
BHIKAN was most probably Shaikh Bhikan of Kakori who died in the early part of the Emperor Akbar's reign. The Persian historian Badauni has the following account of him : — ' Kakori is a pargana town in the Sarkar of Lakhnau. Shaik Bhikan was the most learned of the learned men of his time,
BHIKAN 415
abstemious and well versed in the holy law, while in devout piety even Abu Hanifa, the greatest of the Imams, was his inferior. For many years he was engaged in teaching and in instructing the people. He had committed the whole of the glorious word of God to memory, according to each of the seven methods of reading it. He used also to give instruction thereon. He reckoned his spiritual suc cession from Mir Saiyid Ibrahim of Irij, who was himself the most learned of the learned men of his time. The Shaikh would never mention the Sufi mysteries in a public assembly, but only in private to those who had been initiated into their secrets ; and one of his sayings was, "If the mystical profes sion of the Unity of God be made public, it returns solely to him who uttered it, or to the learned few." He would not listen to singing, and outwardly reprobated it. He left numerous children who attained perfection, all of whom were adorned with the embellishments of rectitude, piety, wisdom, knowledge, and virtue.
' The compiler of these historical selections was honoured, in company with the late Muhammad Husain Khan by being permitted to pay his respects to the Shaikh in Lakhnau. It was the month of Ramzan and a certain one brought to the Shaikh a work on logic, asking him to set him a task in that book. The Shaikh said, " You should read some book on divinity." The Shaikh's death oc curred in the year A.H. 981 (A. D. 1573-4).'
Badauni states that when Muzaffar Khan rose in revolt against Akbar, he on one occasion pitched his tent near the burial place of Shaikh Bhikan, no doubt with the object of praying for his intercession for the success of his enterprise.
Badauni also speaks of ' that pilgrim to the two sacred precincts Haji Bhikan Basawani.' This, how ever, may have been a different person from Shaikh Bhikan of Kakori.
4i6 BHAGATS OF THE GRANTH SAHIB
Whoever wrote the following hymns bearing the name of Bhikan in the Granth Sahib, must have been some religious man who resembled Shaikh Farid II, and was largely tinctured with the reforma tory ideas then prevalent in India. It has been conjectured, with some show of probability, that Bhikan was a follower of Kabir.
Only God's name can heal a diseased mind and body.
SORATH
From mine eyes tears have flowed, my body hath become lean, and my hair the colour of milk.
My throat is choked ; I cannot utter a word ; what can mortal now do ?
O Sovereign Lord, Gardener of the world, be Thou my physician,
And save Thy saints.
There is pain in my forehead ; my body is burning ; my heart l is in anguish ;
Such pangs have been produced in me that there is no medicine for them.
The name of God, a pure nectareous water, is the best medicine in the world.
Bhikan prayeth, may I by the guru's favour obtain the gate of salvation !
The bliss which Bhikan finds in devotion :—
Such a Name, a priceless jewel, I have obtained as the reward of meritorious acts.
With several efforts I put the jewel in my heart ; however much I tried to conceal it, it would not be concealed.
Though one try to utter God's praises, they cannot be uttered ;
They are like sweets to a dumb person.
My tongue is happy in repeating, mine ear in hearing, and my mind in thinking on God's name.
Saith Bhikan, both mine eyes are satisfied ; wherever I look there is God
SUR DAS
THE Sur Das, one of whose hymns is found in the Granth Sahib, must not be confounded with Sur Das, a blind poet famous in the north of India as the author of the Sur Sagar. The Sur Das with whom we are concerned was a Brahman born A. D. 1528. On account of his beauty he was surnamed Madan Mohan, an epithet which means that he bewitched Cupid himself, and it was said that his external and internal eyes bloomed like the lotus flower. He became highly proficient in music, poetry, and kindred arts, and at the same time possessed all the joy, comfort and pleasure to be obtained from esoteric divine knowledge. He sang of love, the first and greatest of the divine passions which form the proper subjects of poetry. As soon as a verse issued from his mouth it became celebrated. It is said that, even in that age of bad roads and slow locomotion, it would reach four hundred miles in a day as if it had acquired wings for flight.
The Emperor Akbar, who admired poetical talents, appointed Sur Das governor of the province of Sandila. Its capital is in the present district of Hardoi in Oudh. His administration appears to have been by no means successful. The ordinary land revenue of Sandila was thirteen lakhs of rupees per year, but it was all spent by Sur Das in feeding holy men. When he heard of a contem plated inspection of his province and the collection of its revenue, he fled to avoid the consequences of his too profuse generosity. When the officials arrived to take the revenue, they found stones in the sealed treasure-chests instead of money. Each chest was labelled with a slip containing these lines : —
neb .—
Sandila yields its thirteen lakhs ; They're eaten up by men who pray SIKH, vi E e
So Sur Das Madan Mohan now At dead of night hath run away.
The Emperor on reading these verses said that eating was an excellent thing, but absconding was not a course to be commended. He was even pleased to learn Sur Das's generosity and service to saints, and accordingly wrote an order par doning his offence and expressing satisfaction at his devotion to holy men, but at the same time re questing him to appear before him. Sur Das said that it was a thousand times better to wipe the shoes of holy men than be governor and revenue collector of a province, and he refused to appear before Akbar. Todar Mai, Akbar 's Prime Minister, could tolerate it no longer. He said to the Emperor, ' If such people can with impunity spend the money which belongs to the state and then abscond, there will be an end to all government/ Under the circumstances Akbar altered his resolution and ordered that Sur Das should be imprisoned. The poet's jailor was named Timir Das. The word timir means night or darkness ; and the word das, if pronounced with a short vowel, means ten. From his prison the poet sent the Emperor the following couplet, which in the original contains a pun on the name of the jailor.
One night brings darkness which a small lamp lights ; O may the sun king Akbar save me from Ten Nights !
Sur Das was immediately released from prison and the governor of the jail obtained the sobriquet of Ten Nights from the pun on his name.
Sur Das subsequently wrote a stanza in which he prayed that the title of shoe-holder to the saints of God might be conferred on him. A holy man, to put him to the test, told him he was going to see the great lord Madan Mohan, also an epithet of Krishan, and asked him to keep watch
SUR DAS 419
over his shoes till he returned. Sur Das with great pleasure took up the saint's shoes and said, ' Up to the present my wishes have only been expressed, but now they are fulfilled/ The high priest in col lusion with the saint several times sent a man to call Sur Das while holding the shoes. He refused to come until he had completed the menial service he had undertaken. The high priest and the saint were both highly pleased with Sur Das's devotion.
Sur Das passed the remainder of his life in forest tracts in the worship and contemplation of God in the society of holy men. His shrine is near Banaras.
The following hymn of Sur Das in the Sarang measure on the happiness of communion with God is found in the Granth Sahib.
The people of God dwell with God.
They dedicate unto Him their bodies and souls ; all they possess they dedicate unto Him. While voicing His name they become intoxicated l with divine pleasure.
On beholding Him men become free from sin, and obtain all things.
After gazing on His beautiful face, there needs nothing else.
He who forsaketh God and desireth any one else, is like a leech on a leprous body.
Sur Das, God hath taken my soul into His keeping and granted me deliverance 2 in exchange.
In the Granth Sahib of Bhai Banno, the fol lowing hymn of Sur Das in the same measure is also found. The ordinary Granth Sahib only con tains the first line. The hymn was originally copied into the Granth Sahib of Kartarpur, but a pen was subsequently drawn through it and sulphate of arsenic rubbed over it for more complete erasure.
E e 2
The reason for its erasure has not been explained. The subject of the hymn is the old one — Evil com munications corrupt good manners— as stated by the old Greek poet Menander.
0 man, abandon the society of those who turn away from God ;
In association with them evil desires are produced, and devotion is interrupted.
What availeth it to give milk to a serpent to drink ? It will not part with its poison.
What availeth it to bathe an elephant in the river ? He will soil his body as before.1
What availeth it to a crow to peck at camphor, or to a dog to bathe in the Ganges ?
What availeth it to a donkey to be smeared with fragrant aloes, or to a monkey to wear jewels on his body ?
Sinners are like stones ; the arrows of divine knowledge pierce them not, even though a quiverful be discharged.
Saith Sur Das, O God, this black blanket cannot be dyed another colour.2
Grant to Thy Sikhs the gift of Sikhism, the gift of the Guru's instruction, the gift of faith, the gift of confidence in Thee, and the gift of reading and understanding the holy Granth Sahib.
INDEX
Pref. stands for Preface, Int. for Introduction, and n for note.
Abchalanagar (Nander), v 220,
246.
Abdali, vi 69 n4. Abdul Qadir Jilani, vi 362 n i,
387-
Abdul Rahlm Ansari, vi
362Abdul Shakur of Sarsa, vi
366Abdulla, bard, iv 6,
187Abdulla Khan, Subadar of Ja-
landhar, iv
105Abdulla Shah, son of Shaikh
Farld, vi
375Abhijit, ii 112 n i. Abhyagat, ii 233 ni. Abraham, Musalman story of, vi
127 n
2Accounts, former Indian practice
of settling, vi 251 n i. Achal Batala, i 157 n2. Acquisitions, six, vi 273 n. Acrostics, G. Nanak's Hindi, i
3 ; Persian, i 12; Kablr's, vi
181Acts in human birth attach to
the soul, i 67 n i ; result of,
i 198 n i, 335 n i ; two kinds
of, iii 225 n i ; vi 90 n 2, 147
n i and
2Adanshahis, v
174Adesh, i 213 n i. Adh, coin, i 12 n
3Adi Granth, Int. Ixxiii, Ixxv. Aditi, Int. Ix. Adonai, Lord, i 9 n2. Adultery forbidden, iv 253 ; v
1
10Ages, four, i 4 n6, 235 ; ii 230 ;
iii 402.
Agni, Int. Ixiii. Ahalya, vi 56 n2. Ahinsa, vi
141Ahmad Danyal, vi 370 n i. Ahmad Shah Durani, iii 10 ; v
108 ni, 223 n i. Aln-i-Akbari, i 157 n i ; vi 362
n i, 377 n> 390 n i. Ai Panth, i 212 n4. _ Aj, grandfather of Ram Chandar,
i 168 n.
Ajamal, ii 339 n i.
Ajlt Singh, son of G. Gobind
Singh, v 51 ; his heroism, 130,
132, 140; sent against Pa-
thans, 1 54 ; death at Cham-
kaur, 1
88Ajlt Singh, adopted son of Mata
Sundari, v 23i,_254,
255Ajmer Chand, Raja, v 99, 125,
136, 145, 170, 172,
175Ajodhan, i 84 ; Shaikh Farld at,
vi
366Ajudhia, Monkey temple at, iv
366 ; vi
30Akal, v 261 n4. Akal Bunga, iv 3,
32i Akalis, iv
4i Akal Ustat, v 260 n. Akbar, his religion, Int. xlv, Ivi ;