I am about to depart. God's will I accept with pleasure. The Creator by calling me hath conferred honour on me ; and as true friends, relations, and well-wishers are pleased and never sorry at seeing an honour paid a friend, let there be no mourn ing for me. When I have gone, sing God's praises, read God's word, hear God's word, and obey God's will.' Mohri then asked him how his obse quies were to be celebrated. The Guru replied, ' Perform no obsequies for me, place not a lamp in my hands during my last moments. Call me not a ghost as the Hindus do up to the thirteenth day after death. Remember to obey my instructions.'
Mohri put a final question to his father: 'Thou hast ordered us to lead family lives. This cannot be done without the aid of wealth. What occupa tion shall we pursue to maintain ourselves ? ' The Guru replied, ' Live honestly, practise piety, and turn not away from God. Act according to my advice, and you shall be happy.'
The Guru repeated the Japji, drew a sheet over him and amid the surrounding Sikhs' unbroken cries of Wahguru ! Sat Guru ! Sat Nam ! blended the light of his soul with the light of God. After the Guru's body had been washed and clothed in costly raiments, it was placed on a beautiful bier, and borne with the singing of the Sikh choristers, to the accompaniment of rebeck and tabla, and amid a rain of flowers, to the margin of the river Bias, where it was cremated with all solemnity. The ashes were afterwards thrown into the river. When the singing was over, the mourners recited the Sohila and distributed sacred food. They then returned home singing the Guru's praises as they went. Guru Ram Das addressed words of consolation to the Sikhs and the family of the departed.
Guru Ram Das's glory daily extended like the rays of the rising sun, and the Sikh religion grew like a gigantic tree. It was Guru Nanak who had
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sowed the seed from which it sprang. In Guru Angad's time its trunk towered on high, and its roots penetrated the earth, while during Guru Amar Das's spiritual reign it put forth its widely spreading branches in every direction.
As the Emperor Akbar administered his empire by the agency of governors of provinces, so Guru Amar Das similarly partitioned the Sikh spiritual empire into twenty-two districts.1
Guru Amar Das, after a spiritual reign of twenty- two years, departed this life at ten o'clock on the forenoon of the day of the full moon in the month of Bhadon,Sambat 1631 (A.D. 1574). There is a yearly fair held on that date at Goindwal to commemorate the act of the Guru's blending with his Maker.
Mohri had, as we have seen, a son called Anand. Anand's son was Sundar Das, who afterwards at the request of Guru Arjan wrote the following account of the death of Guru Amar Das. The composition is called the ' Sadd ' or the ' Calling ', and is now sung by Sikhs on all occasions of mourning.
THE SADD
God is the Benefactor of the Universe ; He loveth the saints and filleth the three worlds.
They in whose hearts the Guru's instruction is contained know none besides God ;
Under the Guru's instruction they know none besides ; they meditate on the one Name.
By the favour of Nanak and Guru Angad, A mar Das obtained the supreme position.
When the message came for him to depart, he was absorbed in God's name.
In this world he obtained the eternal, immovable, and unequalled God by service.
The Guru gladly accepted the will of God to go to Him.1
The true Guru offered a prayer to God, ' Protect mine honour ; this is my supplication.
' Preserve the honour of Thy servant, O bright God, grant me Thy name,
God heard the true Guru's prayer and granted his request ;
He mercifully blended the true Guru with Himself and said, ' Bravo ! bravo ! well done ! '
' My disciples, sons, and brethren, hear me ; I have received God's order to go to Him.'
The Guru was pleased with the will of the Lord ; my God congratulated him.
He to whom God's order is pleasing is a saint of the true Guru ;
There are joy and unbeaten strains for him, and God Himself embraceth him.
' Carefully examine your hearts, my sons, my brethren, and my family.
' The order written in the beginning cannot be erased ; the Guru is going to God.'
The true Guru was pleased to sit up and call his family—
' Let no one weep when I am gone ; that would never please me.
' When a friend obtaineth a robe of honour, friends who desire his honour are pleased.
' Consider and behold, my sons and brethren, God clotheth me with a robe of honour S
The true Guru himself while alive appointed a successor to his authority ;
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He caused all his disciples, relations, sons, and brethren to fall at Ram Das's feet.
Finally, the true Guru spoke, 'After my death, sing God's l praises.
' Read God's word, hear God's name ; the Guru desireth God's love instead of a lofty bier,3
' Barley rolls, bread on leaves, Hindu obsequies, lamps, and throwing his bones 4 into the Ganges.'
The true Guru spoke as it pleased God, and he was blended with the Omniscient Being.
The true Guru gave Ram Das Sodhi the apostolic mark, the token of the true Word.
As the true Guru spoke, so his disciples obeyed his wishes.
His son Mohri became obedient to him, and fell at Ram Das's feet.
Then all fell at the feet of the true Guru into whom Guru Amar Das had infused his spirit.
Any person who through jealousy5 did not bow before him was brought by the supernatural power of the true Guru, and made bow before him.
It pleased God and the Guru to bestow greatness on Ram Das according to God's will recorded in the beginning.
Saith Sundar, hear me, O saint,6 the whole world fell at Ram Das's feet.