Guru Nanak expatiates on the advantage of the Guru's instruction and the repetition of God's name :—
Man may perform all devotion, all penance, and resort to every expedient ;
, Yet he is as if he wandered in a wilderness, and could not find the way.
Without knowing God, no one is acceptable.
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Without the Name man is despised.1
The Lord is permanent ; the world cometh and goeth.
Mortals shall be emancipated by being the holy man's slaves.
The world is bound by worldly love and many desires ;
Yet some reject it under the Guru's instruction.
The lotuses of the hearts of those who have the Name within them bloom,
And they fear not Death,
The world which loveth women is overcome by them.
Men attached to sons and wives forget God's name.
They waste in vain their human lives and lose their game.
To serve the true Guru is the best thing.
They who utter words of pride in public,
Never apply the unction of salvation to their hearts
They who burn worldly love under the Guru's instruction,
And ever meditate on the pure Name in their hearts,
Hold and restrain their wandering minds.
By God's favour the Guru associateth such persons with the congregation of the Sikhs.
Without a guru man forgetteth God and suffereth trans migration.
Him whom God regardeth favourably He blendeth with Himself.
If I speak of the beautiful One, I cannot describe Him.
If I discourse of the Ineffable, I cannot find His worth.
All pain and pleasure depend on Thy will, O God.
All pain shall be erased by the True Name,
And men shall hear instruments played without hands and anklets without feet.
If man understand the Word, he shall behold the True One.
When the True One is in the heart, all happiness is there also.
The Preserver preserveth men by His favouring glance.
He who effaceth himself knoweth the three worlds.
He who understandeth the Word, shall be absorbed in the True One.
Nanak, the Creator will congratulate him Who without respite meditateth on the Word.
How deliverance may be obtained : —
He who burneth his hopes and desires by the Word,
Who uttereth and causeth others to utter God's name,
Shall by means of the Guru find the way to God's own abode.
His body shall become gold by God's incomparable light,
And he shall behold God's form in the whole three worlds.
I possess God's true name as wealth which shall never fail.
God pervadeth the five elements, the three worlds, the nine regions, and the four quarters of the universe.
The Almighty support eth the earth and the heavens.
The wandering mind He bringeth back.
Whoever is a fool seeth not with his eyes ;
His language giveth not pleasure, and he understandeth not what is told him.
Intoxicated with evil passions, he quarrelleth with the world ;
While on the other hand a man becometh good by association with the good,
Pursueth virtue and purifieth himself from vice.
Without serving the Guru peace is not obtained.
The Name is diamonds, jewels, and rubies ;
It is the pearl of the heart, God's own wealth.
Nanak, God assayeth man, and maketh him happy with a glance.
The following was addressed to a hypocritic;
J°gi :-
Men sing songs while meditating evil ;
They intone measures and style themselves knowing.
Without the Name the heart is filthy and meditateth evil.
Whither goest thou ? O man, remain at home.
The pious are satiated with God's name, and by searching easily find Him.
The bodily sins of lust, wrath, and worldly love are in the mind :
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 315
So are painful greed, avarice, and pride. How can the mind be satisfied without God's name ? They who lave their hearts know the True One. The holy man knoweth the condition of his heart.
The mind obtains composure by devotion :—
The apostate's mind is a furious elephant
Which wandereth distracted in the forest of worldly love.
Impelled by Death it rusheth here and there,
While the pious search and find God in their hearts.
Without the Guru's word the mind is not at rest.
Remember God's very pure name and relinquish bitter pride.
Say how shall this stupid mind be happy :
Without understanding, it shall suffer the torture of Death.
God will cause man to meet the true Guru, and will pardon him.
The True One will thrust aside the tortures of Death.
Wealth is perishable ; devotion to God an abiding gain :-
When the body perisheth, whose shall be its wealth ?
Without the Guru how shall God's name be obtained ?
God's name is wealth which accompanieth and assisteth us.
Day and night he is pure who fixeth his attention on God.
What have we but God's name ?
Treating pleasure and pain as the same I forsake not the Name : God will pardon and blend me with Himself.
The fool loveth gold and woman ;
Attached to mammon he forgetteth the Name.
Him whom Thou, 0 God, pardonest Thou causest to repeat Thy name.
Death's myrmidons cannot overtake him who singeth Thy praises.
O Hari, who art God, the great Giver,
Mercifully preserve us as Thou pleasest.
Under the Guru's instruction God is pleasing to my mind ;
Disease is removed and pain averted.
There is no other medicine, charm, or spell. By remembering God, sin is destroyed. As I behold creation I am amazed and astonished God is contained in the hearts of demigods and men. God who filleth every place, I hold in my heart. There is none equal to Thee, O Lord. He who loveth worship hath God's name in his mouth. In the company of such saints and worshippers Man breaketh his shackles and meditateth on God. Pious men are emancipated by a knowledge of God through the Guru.
Death's myrmidons cannot inflict pain on him Who awaketh in the love of God's name. God to whom His saints are dear, abideth with them. Nanak, salvation is obtained by bearing love to God.
The following on the disregard of worldly things was addressed to a selfish Brahman :—
He who serveth the Guru knoweth the Lord ;
His pain is erased who recognizeth the True Word.
Repeat God's name, my friends and companions.
On serving the true Guru ye shall behold God with your eyes.
Entanglements are mother, father, and the whole world ;
Entanglements are sons, daughters, and women ;
Entanglements are religious ceremonies performed through ostentation ;
Entanglements are sons, wives, and worldly love in the mind ;
An entanglement is the tillage done by the tiller —
He suffereth for his selfishness when the King demandeth revenue —
An entanglement is traffic without meditating on God.
Man is never satisfied ; worldly love is everywhere diffused.1
An entanglement is the perishable wealth which merchants amass.
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Without devotion to God man findeth no place.
Entanglements are Veds, religious discussions, and pride.
By the entanglements of worldly love and sin man perisheth —
Nanak taketh shelter in God's name —
He whom the true Guru preserveth is freed from his entanglements.
The following was addressed to a mixed assembly of professedly religious men :—
I have searched in every direction, but found no friend.
If it please Thee, O Lord, Thou art mine and I am Thine.
I have no other gate than Thine ; whom shall I salute ?
I possess Thee alone, O Lord ; Thy true name is in my mouth.
The Sidhs strive for supernatural power ; Pirs also desire wealth and supernatural power.
May I not forget the one Name under the true Guru's instruction !
Why do the Jogis, the Bhogis,1 and the Kaprias wander in foreign lands ?
They heed not the Guru's instruction or the Real Thing that is within them.
Pandits, preceptors, and astrologers ever read the Purans,
But know not the Thing within them — God who is con cealed within the heart.
Some anchorets perform austerities in forests, others ever dwell at places of pilgrimages.
Those benighted people know not themselves ; why have they become ascetics ?
Some who are called Jatis try to restrain their seed :
Without the word of the Guru they shall not be saved, but shall wander in transmigration.
Different persons are family men, worshippers, penitents ; but it is only they who are attached to the Guru's instruc tions,
Who hold fast the Name, charity, and ablutions, and who awake in God's service.
Through the Guru the gate of Thy house, O Lord, is known ; when men go there they recognize it.
Saith Nanak, may I not forget Thy name, and may my heart be reconciled with the True One !
Precepts for salvation : —
By restraining his mental desires man shall assuredly cross the terrible ocean.
Thou, O Lord, wast in the beginning and in the primal age; Thou art the Merciful ; I have entered Thine asylum.
Thou art the Giver ; we are Thy beggars ; O God, grant us a sight of Thee.
0 man, meditate on the Name under the Guru's instruc tion, and thou shalt be happy in the temple of thy heart.
Renounce falsehood and avarice ; and then shalt thou recognize the True One.
Be absorbed in the Guru's instruction, and thou shalt know what is best for thee.
This mind is a grasping tyrant enamoured of greed :
Under the Guru's instruction greed is removed, and man arriveth at an understanding with God.
If man sow a barren field, how shall he obtain profit ?
The obstinate man is not pleased with the truth ; he is buried in falsehood.
Renounce avarice, ye blind ; it bringeth great unhappi- ness.
If the true Lord dwell in the heart, the poison of pride shall be removed.
Forsake the evil way of mammon, my brethren, or ye shall be plundered.
Day and night praise the Name under the protection of the true Guru.
The mind of the perverse is a stone or a rock ; accursed and vain is his life.
However much a stone be put into the water, it is dry at the core.
God's name is wealth, the true Guru hath given it.
Nanak, he who forgetteth not God's name drinketh distilled nectar.
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The advantage of domestic devotion :—
Why should I go searching in the wood ? My heart is a verdant forest.
The true Word hath come quickly to my heart and abideth there.
Wherever I look there is God ; no one else is seen.
Whosoever doeth the Guru's work shall find God's court.
The True One blendeth with Himself him who is pleasing to His mind ;
He blendeth with Himself him who ever walketh accord ing to His will.
If the true Lord dwell in the heart, it becometh fixed.
God then granteth greatness in which naught is wanting.
How shall one reach God's court by occasional service ?
He who embarketh in a boat of stone shall be drowned with his cargo.1
An inculcation of devotion regardless of worldly opinion :—
He whose mind is imbued with God's name discourseth of the True One.
What care I for men if I please Thee ?
As long as there are life and soul, meditate on the True One.
The profit of singing God's praises is that man obtaineth happiness.
True is Thy work ; grant it me, Thou Merciful One.
I live by praising Thee ; Thou art my prop and my support.
I am the servant and the porter at Thy gate ; Thou knowest my pain.
I am astounded at Thy service which hath removed my pain.
Holy men through Thy name shall reach Thy court and Thy presence.2
That time is auspicious when man recognizeth the true Word.
Practise truth, contentment, and love ; and then the worship of God's name shall be thy viaticum.
Banish sin from thy mind, and the True One will bestow truth :
The True One bestoweth true love on the true.
What pleaseth Thee, O God, is the real justice.
True are the gifts which the true and merciful One granteth.
Serve Him day and night whose Name is priceless.
Thou, O God, art the most high ; I who am Thy servant am low.
Saith Nanak, O True One, look on me with favour that I who am separated from Thee may meet Thee.