It is said that Bhai Budha and Mula, a Sikh, went to the Guru and asked him what afforded the highest gratification. His reply was the following : —
O woman in the prime of youth, my Beloved is playful.
When a wife entertaineth great love for her Spouse, He mercifully taketh delight in her and enjoyeth her.
The wife shall meet her Spouse if the Lord God Himself show her favour.
Her bed is pleasant in the company of her Beloved ; her seven tanks 1 are filled with nectar.
Show me compassion and kindness, O Compassionate One, that I may obtain the true Word and sing Thy praises.
Nanak, the young woman, having seen God her Spouse, is delighted and her heart is enraptured.
0 young woman, beautiful without art, pray only for the love of the one God.
God is pleasing to my soul and body, and I am charmed with His companionship.
She who is dyed with God's love and prayeth to Him, shall abide in happiness through His name.
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 321
When thou embracest virtue thou shall know God ; virtue shall abide with thee and vice be put to flight.
Without Thee I cannot abide for a moment ; I derive no satisfaction from merely conversing of Thee.
Nanak, she whose tongue and heart are moistened with God's essence, calleth for her Beloved.
0 my friends and companions, my beloved is a merchant.
1 have purchased from him God's name whose sweetness and value are infinite.
If woman's house be pleasing to the inestimable, true, and beloved God, she shall be happy.
Other women enjoy dalliance with God ; I cry aloud standing at His door.
Thou, Cause of causes, Omnipotent, Harbinger of pros perity, arranges! man's affairs.
Nanak, she on whom God looketh with favour is a happy wife ; she treasureth up the Word in her heart.
In my house is a true song of rejoicing ; God my lover hath visited me.
Imbued with love He enjoyed me ; I have exchanged hearts with Him.
I gave God my heart and took Him as my Spouse ; He enjoyeth me as He pleaseth.
She who offereth her soul and body to the Beloved is supremely happy through the Word, and obtaineth the ambrosial fruit in her own home.
It is not obtained by intellect, or study, or by great cleverness ; what the heart desireth is obtained by love.
Nanak, God is my Beloved ; I belong to none besides.1
As the deer is snared, the bumble-bee caught by the lotus, and the fish falleth into the net, so man's soul becomes the prey of Death.
Hear, O black deer,2 why art thou enamoured of the garden ? 3
The fruit of sin is sweet, but only for four days ; it then groweth bitter.
SIKH. I Y
The fruit for which thou greatly cravest, shall become very bitter without the Name.
That fruit is as a wave of the ocean, or as a flash of lightning.1
There is no protector but God ; yet He hath been for gotten by thee.
Verily, saith Nanak, think of it, thou shalt die, O black deer.
0 bumble-bee,2 thou wanderest among the flowers, and very great shall be thy suffering, when the lotus closeth on thee.
1 have inquired of my Guru regarding the true knowledge of God.
I have inquired of the true Guru regarding the knowledge of God ; O bumble-bee, thou art enamoured of the flowers.
When the sun riseth,3 the body falleth, and the soul shall be boiled in hot oil.
0 demon, without the Word thou shalt be bound and punished on the road of death.
Verily, saith Nanak, think of it, thou shalt die, O black bee.
My soul from a strange land,4 why fallest thou into entanglements ?
When the true Lord dwelleth in thee, why shouldst thou be entangled in Death's net ?
When the fisherman casteth his net, the fish leaveth the water with tears in its eyes.
The love of mammon is dear to the world ; all doubts on the subject shall at last be set aside.5
Serve God heartily, and dispel thy mental anxieties.
Verily, saith Nanak, think of it, O my soul from a strange land,
Rivers which separate in their course can only meet again by chance.
In every age what is sweet is full of poison ; some rare holy man knoweth this.
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 323
Some rare person who thinketh of the true Guru knoweth divine knowledge and recognizeth God.
Without God's name the fools and the heedless wander in superstition and are ruined.
They whose hearts contain not God's true name and service, at last groan and weep.
Verily, saith Nanak, they who have been long separated meet by the True Word.
RAG GUJARI
Guru Nanak orders man to repeat God's name and engage not in idol worship :—
If the heart be made the scraper,1 the Name the sandal,
And good acts be mixed with it as kungu, that shall be the real worship of God in the heart.
Worship God by meditating on His name, for without the Name there is no worship.
If any one were to wash his heart as the surface of the idol is washed,
His impurity should be removed, his soul should become pure, and he should depart to deliverance.
Even beasts have their merits ; for the oil-cake they eat they give milk, but the Brahmans make no return for the offerings made them.
Without the Name accursed is man's life and the acts he performeth.
God is near, think Him not distant ; He ever careth for and remembereth us.
Eat what He giveth, said Nanak verily.
The Guru's God is superior to the demigods of the Hindus :—
Brahma sprang from the lotus of Vishnu's navel, and having attuned his throat began to recite the Veds ;
Yet he could not see God's limits, and remained in the darkness of transmigration.
Why should I forget the Beloved who is the support of my soul,
Whom the perfect worship, whom munis serve, on whom gurus meditate,
Whose lamps are the sun and moon, and whose one light pervadeth the three worlds ?
The pious have light day and night, but for the perverse there is only sable darkness.
The Sidh sitteth in meditative posture and ever argueth, but can he see God even with both his eyes ?
They in whose hearts there is light are awakened by the sound of the Word ; the true Guru decideth their arguments.
Saith Nanak, O Life of the world, grant me peace and save me by Thy favouring glance.
GUJARI ASHTAPADI
The Guru's heart is ever filled with devotion : —
1 ask Thee, O God, for nothing at any time l but the love of Thy pure name ; grant it to me, O Bright One.
The chatrik Nanak prayeth for the nectareous water of Thy name ; mercifully grant him to sing Thy praises.
There is no happiness without true devotion : —
O Sire, how many people wear religious garbs to beg and fill their bellies !
O mortal, there is no happiness without God's service ; without the Guru pride depart eth not.
O Sire, what shall I ask ? Nothing appeareth per manent ; in this world are the ebb and flow of life.
Saith Nanak, grant me the Name as my wealth, that I may wear it as a necklace on my heart.
The Guru only claims to be a religious instructor from the ranks of the people : —
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 325
It is only they who are dyed with the Name who are free from worldly love and forget mourning, separation, and disease.
My brethren, by the favour of the Guru God's service is obtained.
He in whose heart is the Word of the true Guru, ob- taineth the Pure God, heedeth not Death and oweth him nothing.
The following instruction was addressed to Pandit Ram Chand at Banaras :—
The saints worship God with love ; they thirst for the truth, and hear it with excessive love.
They who cry aloud in trouble obtain rest by prayer and heartily loving God.
O man, repeat God's name and seek His protection.
Repeat God's name and do good works ; thus shalt thou cross over the ocean of the world.
O mortal man, to repeat God's name under the Guru's instruction is a happy thought.
By mentally repeating God's name one's mind obtaineth a treasure of real divine knowledge and peace.
In this world man's fickle mind pursueth wealth and becometh intoxicated with worldly love ;
But, on being imbued with the Guru's word and teach ing, God's name and service become firmly implanted in the heart.
Doubts which ruin the world by the disease of trans migration, cease not by wandering to places of pilgrimage.
The place of God is the abode of unmixed happiness ; he who is truly wise repeateth God's name as his penance.
Every one is saturated with worldly love, and therefore endureth the great pain of birth and death.
Man shall be saved by hastening to the asylum of the true Guru and repeating God's name in his heart.
Man's mind becometh stable, and he practiseth divine meditation under the Guru's instruction.
Pure is the heart which containeth truth and the excellent jewel of divine knowledge.
O man, by fear, love, and service, and by fixing thine attention on God's feet shalt thou cross the terrible ocean.
O God, put into my heart Thy name which is the purest of the pure ; my body is in Thy sanctuary.
Extricate me, O God, from the waves of avarice and covetousness, and put Thy name as capital into my heart.
Chasten my mind. Thou spotless One, saith Nanak, I seek Thy protection.
BIHAGRE KI WAR
Reflections on the Hindu idol-worshippers :—
The Hindus have forgotten God, and are going the wrong way.
They worship according to the instruction of Narad.1
They are blind and dumb, the blindest of the blind.
The ignorant fools take stones and worship them.
RAG WADHANS
The Guru enjoyed a vision of God in his dreams, and on awaking felt the pain of separation from Him:-
The peacocks are crying with joy ; O sisters, the rainy season hath come.
The fervent woman, O God, is enamoured of Thy glances which bind her like a rope.
1 am a sacrifice to a sight of Thee, O God ; to Thy name I am a sacrifice.
Since Thou art my Master I am proud ; without Thee what pride should I have ?
0 woman, break thy couch with its frame and thine arm with their bracelets,2
Since, notwithstanding thy decorations, the Lord is enamoured of others.
Thou needest not a bracelet-dealer, or silver, or glass bracelets :
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 327
Burn the arm which embraceth not the Bridegroom. All my companions went to enjoy the Bridegroom ; whose door shall I, wretched that I am, approach ?
1 plaited my tresses with cosmetic and filled the parting of my hair with vermilion ;
Yet when I went before Thee I was not accepted ; I shall die of excessive grief.
I am weeping ; the whole world weepeth ; yea, even the birds of the forests weep for me.
One thing weepeth not for me, the separation which parted me from my Beloved.
He came to me in my dreams and again vanished, upon which I wept my fill.
I cannot go to Thee, O Beloved, or send any one to Thee.
Return, O happy sleep, perhaps I may again behold my Lord.
What shall I give him, saith Nanak, who telleth me of Thee, O God ?
I will cut off my head and give it to him to sit on ; without my head I will perform his service.
Why do I not die and give up my life since my Lord hath chosen another ?
WADHANS CHHANT
The following was addressed to the Hindus, who set the highest religious value on ablutions :—
Why wash the body defiled by falsehood ?
The practice of truth is the acceptable ablution.
When there is truth in the heart, then man becometh true and obtaineth the True One.
Understanding is not obtained without favourable destiny; man ruineth himself by vain babbling.
Wherever thou sittest speak civilly, and fix thine attention on God's word.
Why wash the body defiled by falsehood ?
When Thou, 0 Lord, didst cause me to speak, I spoke.
Thine ambrosial name is pleasing to my soul.
Thy name is sweet to my soul ; a load of sorrow hath fallen from off me.
When Thou gavest the order, happiness came and took its seat in my heart.
I pray to Thee, who didst create the world, for Thy favour,
When Thou didst cause me to speak, I spoke.
The Master granteth man his term of human life according to his past acts.
Fall not into a quarrel by calling any one evil.
Enter not into a quarrel with the Lord ; thou shalt only ruin thyself.
Why be jealous and vex him with whom thou associatest ?
Bear what God giveth thee ; it is forbidden to remon strate ; speak not nonsense regarding it.
The Master granteth man his term of life according to past acts.
God created all things and looketh on them with favour.
Nobody desireth what is bitter ; every one desireth what is sweet.
Everybody may ask for what is sweet, but God will do as He pleaseth.
Alms-offerings and various good works are not equal to the Name.
Nanak, they who are the objects of God's favour from the beginning, have obtained His name.
God created all things and looketh on them with favour.
WADHANS ALAHANIAN
Some one inquired why God, who is ever present, is never visible. The Guru replied : —
The Lord who created the world and again drew it within Himself, is known by His omnipotence.
Search not for the True One afar off ; He is in every heart, and is known by the Guru's instruction.
By the Guru's instruction know the True One who made creation ; think Him not distant.
Meditate on the Name and thou shalt obtain happiness : without the Name man is not victorious in the arena of the world.
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 329
He who established the world knoweth its ways ; what shall any one say ?
He who established the world spread the net of mammon ; accept that Lord with thy heart.
WADHANS KI WAR
Guru Nanak as usual pays no attention to cere monial :—
Perish the ritual by which I forgot my Beloved !
Nanak, that is the true love which preserveth me in honour with the Lord.
RAG SORATH
The Guru's reflections on death and future punishment :—
Death must come to all and all must part company ;
Go and ask the wise if men shall meet hereafter or not.
They who have forgotten my God shall suffer great pain.
Certainly praise that true Being,
From whose glance of favour happiness ever resulteth.
Praise Him, for He is Great. He is, was, and ever shall be.
Thou alone, O God, art the Benefactor of all ; no gifts are obtained from man.
What pleaseth Thee taketh place ; what avail womanly tears ?
How many kings have departed having exercised sove reignty over millions of fortresses on earth ?
They whom the world could not contain have had rings put on their noses.1
If man thought of future torments why should he devote himself to enjoyment ? 2
Nanak, man shall have to wear on his neck as many chains as he hath sins.
If he possess virtues, which are as brothers and friends, his chains shall be cut off.
They who have no Guru shall not be accepted hereafter ; they shall be beaten and expelled.
The following is in opposition to all except deistic forms of religion : —
There appeareth no partner of Thine ; then whom shall I praise but Thee ?
Nanak, the slave of slaves representeth, God is known by the Guru's teaching.
The Guru's conception of God : —
The Unseen, Infinite, Inaccessible, Inapprehensible God is not subject to death or destiny.1
He is of no caste, unborn, self -existent, without fear or doubt.
I am a sacrifice to the Truest of the true.
He hath no form, or colour, or outline ; He becometh manifest by the true Word.
He hath no mother, father, son, or kinsman ; He feeleth not lust, and hath no wife
Or family ; He is pure, endless, and infinite ; all lighl is Thine, O Lord.
God is concealed in every heart ; His light is in every heart.
He whose understanding's adamantine doors are opened by the Guru's instruction, fixeth his gaze on the Fearless One.
God having created animals made them subject to death, and retained all contrivances in his own power.
He who serveth the True Guru obtaineth the real boon, and is delivered by repeating the Word.
Truth is contained in pure vessels ; few there are whose acts are pure.
By seeking Thy protection, saith Nanak, the soul blendeth with the Supreme Soul.
The condition of a man who has no Guru to com municate God's name :—
As a fish without water, so is the infidel — dying of thirst.
If thy breath be drawn in vain, O man, thou shalt die
without God.
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 331
O man, repeat God's name and praises ;
But how shalt thou obtain this pleasure without the Guru ? It is the Guru who uniteth man with God.
Meeting the society of holy men is as a pilgrimage for the holy.
The advantages of bathing at the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage are obtained by beholding the Guru:—
As a Jogi without continence, devotion, truth, or content ment,
So is the body without the Name ; Death will punish it since it containeth sin in its heart.
God is not found by loving the infidel ; He is found by loving the true Guru.
Saith Nanak, he who is absorbed in God's praises obtaineth the Guru who is the dispenser of weal and woe.
Man should cultivate true piety in his own home :—
The nectareous water of life,1 for which thou earnest into the world, is with the Guru.
Abandon garbs, disguises, and cleverness ; this water 2 is not obtained by devotion to mammon.
O man, remain at home ; go nowhere, my friend.
By searching abroad thou shalt suffer much affliction ; the water of life is in thy heart at home.
Forsake vice and pursue virtue ; thy vice thou shalt regret.
Thou knowest not good from evil ; thou shalt again and again wallow in the mire.
Inside thee is the great filth of covetousness and false hood ; why washest thou thine outside ?
Ever repeat the Pure Name under the Guru's instruction, then shall thy heart be pure.
Abandon covetousness and slander, forswear falsehood and thou shalt obtain the true fruit through the Guru's instruction.
O God, preserve me as Thou pleasest ; Nanak praiseth Thy Word.
God is the invisible Benefactor and is pleased when men obey His behests : —
All creatures are subject to destiny from the beginning ; there is none not subject to it.
God alone is not subject to destiny ; He beholdeth the work of His own omnipotence ; He causeth His order to be executed.
0 man, repeat God's name and thou shalt be happy ; Day and night worship the feet of the Guru the Giver and
the Enjoyer.
Behold Him without thee as He is within thee ; there is none other.
Under the Guru's instruction regard all men as equal, since God's light is contained in the heart of each.
Restrain in its place thy wandering mind ; thou shalt know how to do this on meeting the Guru.
On beholding the Invisible thou shalt be astounded ; thou shalt forget thy misery and obtain happiness.
Quaff nectar and thou shalt obtain supreme happiness and abide in thine own home.
Sing His praises who destroyeth the fear of birth and death, and thou shalt not be born again.
God x the First Principle, the Pure One, is in all things ; of this there is no doubt.
Nanak hath obtained God the Infinite Supreme Being as his Guru.
SORATH ASHTAPADI
The Guru deprecates idolatry and then gives his notion of an ideal Bairagi, or renouncer of the world: —
May I not fall under the power of mammon, worship any but God, or visit tombs and places of cremation !
May I not enter the strange house impelled by greed ! 2 may the Name extinguish my greed !
The Guru showed me God in my own home ; my heart became easily enamoured of Him, my brethren.
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 333
Thou art wise, Thou art far-seeing ; it is only Thou, O Lord, who givest wisdom.
My heart hath no love for the world ; it is tinctured with its hate ; the Word hath penetrated my heart, O my mother.
He who loveth the true Lord and continually repeateth His hymns, beholdeth His light in his own heart.
Countless persons call themselves Bairagis, but only he who is pleasing to God is a Bairagi.
Such a Bairagi treasureth the Word in his heart ; he is ever absorbed in the fear of God and serveth the Guru.
He thinketh on the one God, his mind wavereth not, and he restraineth its wanderings.
He is intoxicated with God's love, ever absorbed in divine pleasure, and he singeth the praises of the True One.
If the mind, which is like the wind, dwell even for a little on the name of Him who liveth at ease, happiness shall result, my brethren.
My tongue, eyes, and ears are tinctured by the True One ; Thou, O Lord, hast extinguished the fire that con sumed me.
He is a Bairagi who abandoneth desires and assumeth an attitude of contemplation in his own home.
He who is filled with the alms of the Name is contented and quaff eth nectar at his ease.
As long as there is a particle of worldly love, there is no contempt of the world.
All the world is Thine, O Lord ; Thou alone art the Giver ; there is none other, my brethren.
Perverse creatures ever abide in misery ; God conferreth greatness on the holy.
Infinite, endless, inaccessible, inapprehensible, Thy worth cannot be obtained by speaking.
Sun Samadh,1 Mahaparamarath,2 and Lord of the three worlds are names of Thine.
All animals born in the world have their destinies recorded on their foreheads, and must bear what is destined for them.
It is God who causeth man to perform good acts and maketh them steadfast in His service.
When man feareth God, the filth of his soul and body departeth, and God Himself giveth him divine knowledge:
Only he who hath tasted it, knoweth its flavour, as a dumb man enjoyeth sweets.1
How describe the Indescribable, my brethren ? Ever walk according to His will.
If God cause man to meet the generous Guru, understand ing is produced; he who hath no Guru hath no under standing.
Walk as God causeth you to walk, my brethren ; what other device can man adopt ?
Some are led astray in error, others love God's service ; Thy play, O Lord, is incomprehensible.
Men obtain the result of what Thou hast applied them to ; Thou leadest them by Thine order.
We can serve Thee if we have anything of our own ; our souls and bodies are Thine.
God is merciful to him who hath met the true Guru ; the ambrosial Name is his support.
He to whom the attributes of God, who dwelleth in heaven, become manifest, shall obtain divine knowledge and medita- tion from them.
God's name is pleasing to him ; he uttereth it himself and causeth others to utter it ; and he only speaketh of the Real Thing.
The Deep and Profound is obtained by the instruction of the Guru and priest ; without such instruction the world would go mad.
Nanak, he whose heart is pleased with the True One is a perfect Bairagi, and naturally fortunate.
The following was the Guru's instruction to a Brahman :—
Hopes and desires are entanglements, my brother ; thy religious ceremonies are also entanglements.
HYMNS OF GURU NANAK 335
Man, my brother, is born in the world as the result of bad and good acts ; l he perisheth when he forgetteth the Name.
Maya bewitcheth the world, my brother ; all thy religious ceremonies are worthless.
Hear me, thou Pandit with the religious ceremonies- Meditation on the Supreme Being is the only religious ceremony, my brother, from which happiness is derived.
Thou standest chattering of the Shastars and Veds, my brother, and makest it a worldly affair.
The filth of sin which is within thee shall not be washed away by hypocrisy.
Like the hypocrite, the spider is ruined when her web is blown by the wind and she falleth headlong.
By evil inclinations many are ruined ; by love of mammon they are lost.
Without the true Guru the Name is not obtained, and without the Name doubt depart eth not.
My brother, serve the true Guru and thou shalt be happy, and released from transmigration.
True peace is obtained from the Guru. When the mind is pure, man shall be absorbed in the True One.
He who serveth the Guru knoweth the way ; without the Guru it cannot be found.
What religious acts can he perform who hath greed in his heart ? He uttereth falsehood and eat eth poison.
If thou churn water, thou shalt obtain but water ; this is the way of the world.
The unseen God dwelleth in every heart, yet without the Guru man is ruined by wandering.
Maya hath bound this world on all sides with her cable :
Without a guru its knot cannot be untied ; man groweth weary in striving.
This world is led astray by superstition ; words are of no avail.
By meeting the Guru, my brother, the fear of God entereth the heart. To die in the fear of God is man's true destiny.
In God's court the Name is superior to ablutions, alms, and similar religious acts.
He who, by the Guru's goad, hath driven the Name into his heart to abide there, shall become free from hypocrisy.
Man is a banker's shop, the unrivalled Name is his capital.
The merchant who meditateth on the Guru's instruction secureth the capital.
Nanak, blest are the merchants who on meeting the Guru engage in such traffic.
Deprecation of idolatry : —
My brethren, you worship goddesses and gods ; what can you ask them ? and what can they give you ?
Even if a stone be washed with water, it will again sink in it.