Let me praise my Beloved by meditation on the word of the Guru.
When I meet my Beloved, I shall obtain happiness and become an illustrious woman.
SUHI CHHANT
Sins are erased by devotion ; God's fellowship with the pious :—
All his sins are erased, O God, who reverently singeth Thy praises day and night.
All men are Thine ; Thou art theirs ; I am Thine ; Thou art mine.
SUHI KI WAR The repentant sinner :—
The evil wife in a red dress goeth to enjoy a strange man.
Infatuated with another she leaveth the husband of her home.
She eateth bread because it is sweet ; its flavour greatly increaseth her disease.
She leaveth God her lawful spouse, and afterwards suffereth the pain of separation from Him ;
But under the Guru's instruction she will return, renew her love for God, and decorate herself to attract Him.
She will then enjoy God her true Spouse in peace, and clasp His name to her heart.
She will be submissive and ever a good wife, and God will unite her with Himself.
Nanak, she who hath obtained the true God as her Hus band, shall ever be a happy wife.
How repentance is effected : —
O thou with the red robe,1 thou shalt become a good wife if thou repeat the true Name with thy heart.
By conciliating the true Guru thy beauty shall be greatly enhanced, and thou shalt have no other abode than his.
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 227
Put on such decorations as shall never be tarnished, that thy husband may love thee night and day.
Nanak, what are the signs of a good wife ? Her heart is pure, her face bright, and she is absorbed in her spouse.
It is not the dress that ensures happiness :—
O people, I have been in red, wearing a red robe,
But, since it is not the robe that obtaineth the Bride groom, I have ceased to robe myself.
Nanak, they who have heard the Guru's instruction, have found the Bridegroom.
In this way the Bridegroom is found ; what pleaseth God taketh place.
The dye of the worldly is temporary, of the saints permanent :—
Thou with the red robe, the whole world steeped in folly and worldly love is red ;
But the dye is false and totally vanisheth in a moment like the shadow of a tree.
The colour of the pious is the reddest of the red as if dyed with madder.
She in whose heart dwelleth God's ambrosial name, turneth away from mammon and entereth the house of God.
Nanak, I am a sacrifice to my Guru by meeting whom I sing God's praises.
Man ought not to set his heart on fleeting plea sures :—
The red colour is useless ; the Bridegroom is not obtained by it;
It taketh not long to fade. She who loveth mammon sitteth as a widow.
The woman who coveteth a red robe is silly and fickle.
Make the true Word thy red robe, and the fear and love of God thine ornaments.
Nanak, they who act according to the wishes of the true Guru shall ever be happy wives.
Q 2
The idolater is compared to an unchaste woman :-
The woman with the red robe who leaveth God and loveth another husband is a bad character.
She hath neither modesty nor virtue ; she ever uttereth falsehood, and is ruined by her perversity.
She for whom it is so written from the beginning, shall obtain God as her Spouse.
She shall doff all her red robes and don the garment of humility.
She shall obtain great honour in this world and the next ; the whole world shall worship her.
No one is equal to her whom the Creator enjoyeth.
Nanak, she who hath the everlasting Male as her Husband is holy, and shall ever be a happy wife.
How a woman ought to love her husband :—
It is not they who burn themselves with their husbands' corpses who are Satis ;
Nanak, rather are they Satis who die by the shock of separation from their husbands.
They also are known as Satis who abide in modesty and contentment ;
Who wait upon their Lord and rising in the morning ever remember Him.
The concremation of widows is inadmissible :—
Women are burnt in the fire with their husbands :
If they appreciate their husbands they undergo sufficient pain by their death.
Nanak, if they appreciate not their husbands, why should they be burnt ?
Whether the husband be alive or dead such women will flee far away from him.1
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 229
Men ought to acquire divine knowledge before adopting a religious dress :—
0 woman, only decorate thyself when thou hast conciliated thy Husband,
Lest He come not to thy couch and thy decorations be in vain.
When thy Husband's heart is conciliated, decoration will become thee.
It will be acceptable if thy Husband love thee.
Make fear thy decoration, God's love thy betel, and reverence thy food.
Nanak, she who delivereth her body and soul to her Husband shall enjoy Him.
God cannot be won by a religious garb :-
A woman taketh collyrium, flowers, betel and attar of roses, and decorateth herself,
But if her husband come not to her couch, it is all in vain.
The Guru describes an ideal marriage :—
They are not husband and wife who sit together : Rather are they husband and wife who have one soul and two bodies.
BlLAWAL1 KI WAR
God's praises may be said or sung:—
Enjoy yourselves when God's name is in your mouths.2
Measures, music, and hymns are pleasant if one meditate on God ;
But if man serve God even without measures and music, he shall obtain honour at His court.
Nanak, meditate upon God by the Guru's instruction, so shall all the pride of thy heart depart.
The Guru's prayer for the human race :—
O God, of Thy mercy save the world which is in flames. Save it in any way that it may be saved.
The fate of the infidel :—
The five thieves 1 rob those who forget the Name
And utter falsehood ; they make a breach of pride in their hearts.
The infidels who know not the savour of God's name are ruined by their folly.
They who have lost the ambrosial Name through doubt and conceived an affection for sin,
Love the wicked and quarrel with the saints.
Nanak, the infidels shall be bound by Death and suffer torments in hell ;
They shall obtain the reward of their acts ; where God placeth them there shall they remain.
The fate of the holy :—
They who serve the true Guru have become strong from being weak.
God ever dwelleth within them and Death cannot look at them.
Lakshmi is their servant in whose hearts is the sweet ness of God's name.
The servant of the servants of God obtaineth the supreme boon.
Nanak is ever a sacrifice to him in whose soul and body God dwelleth.
RAMKALI
The characteristics of the four ages :—
In the Sat age every one spoke the truth ; In every house God's service was performed, and men were holy.
In the Sat age religion had four legs : 2
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 231
Then a few understood divine knowledge by the Guru's instruction.
In the four ages the Name is magnified.
They who cling to the Name obtain salvation ; without the Guru none may obtain the Name.
In the Treta age one leg l of religion was removed ;
Hypocrisy prevailed and men deemed God distant.2
He who obtained knowledge under the Guru's instruction knew God,
And acquired happiness by implanting the Name in his heart.
In the Dwapar age worldly love and duality arose :
Led astray in error men thought the Creator and creation distinct.
In the Dwapar age religion was only left two legs.3
Wherever there was a holy man he fixed the Name firmly in his heart.
In the Kal age only one leg remained to religion.4
She went on one leg and worldly love increased :
Worldly love produced excessive darkness.
If man meet the true Guru, the Name shall be his salvation.
In every age there is only the one true Being :
In everything is the True One, there is none besides.
By praising the True One true happiness is obtained ;
But only a few pious men utter such praises.
Through all the ages the Name is the best thing ; 5
Only a few holy men know this.
He who pondereth on God's name is a saint :
Nanak, in every age the Name is magnified.
RAMKALI KI WAR I
The cultivation of the Name :—
The true Guru is the field of happiness ; he whom God causeth to love it,
Soweth the Name ; the Name springeth up, and he is absorbed in it.
Pride which is the seed of doubt fleeth away from him.
He no longer soweth the seed of doubt ; it no longer spring eth up ; he liveth on what God giveth him.
When water blendeth with water, it cannot again be separated.
Nanak, that is the way of the holy ; O people, come and see :
But what can wretched people see who themselves know nothing ?
He in whose heart God dwelleth and to whom He showeth Himself, beholdeth Him.
Sorrow is the portion of the perverse : —
The perverse man is a field of sorrow ; he soweth sorrow and eateth sorrow.
In sorrow is he born, in sorrow he dieth, and in pride he passeth his life.
The mentally blind man acteth blindly, and thinketh not of his transmigration.
He knoweth not the Giver, but clingeth to what is given :
He acteth as was at first destined for him ; O Nanak, he cannot act otherwise.
The following is a reply to a hymn of Kabir :-
Nanak, God will look with favour on him who hath turned himself into henna :
God Himself will grind it, God Himself will rub it, and God Himself will apply it to His feet.
This is a loving cup of the Lord. He prepareth it for him with whom He is pleased.
The following is a reflection on anchorets : —
Led astray by doubt, I have wandered the world over, and searched until I have grown weary.
God gave me no peace ; what can cope with Him ?
Meditate on God under the Guru's instruction, and clasp Him to thy heart.
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 233
Nanak, if God be merciful, man seated in his own home can find Him.
The false and the true Abhyagat,1 or mendicant, who claims to have reached the final goal of sanctity :—
He in whose heart there is superstition ought not to be called an Abhyagat.
Alms given to him, O Nanak, shall be as vain as himself.
Few are they, O Nanak, to whose lot it hath fallen to give food to him
Who hungereth for the supreme reward of the Fearless and Pure.
They should not be described as Abhyagats who eat in other's houses,
And who to fill their bellies adopt many sectarial garbs.
They are Abhyagats, O Nanak, who study their hearts,
Who search and find the Lord, and dwell in their own homes.
Man must do good acts and obey God's laws :—
Numberless persons are absorbed in God, the Mine of jewels ; but the false suffer transmigration :
They act as they please and suffer great punishment.
Everything is in the Mine of jewels, but it is only ob tainable by good acts.
Nanak, man obtaineth the nine treasures if he act accord ing to God's will.
Better to taste God's ambrosia than the poison of the perverse :—
He who serveth not the Guru cheerfully shall lose his life by pride.
The lotus of his heart shall never bloom whose tongue tasteth not God's essence.
The perverse die by eating poison ; they perish by worldly love.
He on whom the true God looketh with favour becometh the slave of His slaves :
He serveth the true Guru night and day and never leaveth his side :
As the lotus remaineth dry in the water, so he liveth a hermit in his own home.
Nanak, the Lord of excellences acteth and causeth all to act as He pleaseth.
Dutiful children ought to accept the counsel of sages :—
Elders' 1 advice maketh children good :
They who are pleasing to God heed such counsel and act accordingly.
Go and consult the Simritis, the Shastars, the writings of Vyas,2 Shukdev, Narad, and those who uttered excellent words.
They whom God attacheth to the truth remain attached to it and ever remember it.
Nanak, their coming into the world is profitable who save all their families.
The blind leading the blind :—
When the guru is blind, the deeds of his disciples also are blind ;
They act as it pleaseth themselves and continually utter the grossest falsehood ;
They practisa lying and deception and ever slander others.
The slanderers are ruined themselves and ruin all their families ;
But they are, O Nanak, in the position in which God placed them ; what can the poor creatures do ?
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 235
Nothing is gained by association with a fool :—
The fool listeneth to the words of the fool.
What are the marks of a fool ? What his acts ?
The fool is he who is stupid and dying of pride.
In its practice he is ever miserable, and in misery he abideth.
If his dearest friend fall into a well, what device shall he adopt to extricate him ?
A pious man would think about it, but the fool would remain aloof.
By repeating God's name the pious man is saved, and they who were perishing shall be saved through him.
Nanak, God acteth as He pleaseth, and man must endure what cometh from Him.
MARU KI WAR I
The condition of those who have not the fear of God in their hearts :—
They who have not met the Guru and who have not a particle of fear,
Suffer great pain in transmigration, and their anxiety never ceaseth.
They are beaten like soiled garments or like a gong which striketh gharis and double gharis.
Nanak, without the true Name they are never free from entanglements.
The Guru inculcates truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth :—
I have searched the three worlds, my friends, and dis covered that pride is bad for men.
Grieve not, O my heart, speak the truth, Nanak, the whole truth.
The Guru culls divine knowledge from God's tree :—
The tree spontaneously produceth flowers and fruits ;
the bumble-bee divesting himself of fear dwelleth among them.
Nanak, there is but one tree (God), one flower (divine knowledge), and one bumble-bee (the Guru).
The Guru teaches true piety to a Jogi :—
If I become a Jogi, wander in the world, and beg from door to door,
When my account is called for in God's court, how many persons shall I have to satisfy ? l
Let me make the Name my alms, patience my hut, com panionship with the True One my cry ; / shall not then be asked for an account.
God is not obtained by sectarial garbs ; all who adopt them shall be seized by the god of death.
Nanak, their words are false — do thou remember the true Name.
Even the perverse may be saved by obeying God's order :—
A raven becometh not white, nor doth iron float.
He who accepteth the boon of the Beloved, is blest and regencratcth others.
The countenance of him who recognizeth God's orders shall become bright, and lie shall cross over like iron on timber.
To abandon avarice and abide in fear are, O Nanak, most meritorious acts.
The heart is not chastened by wandering in forests :—
The ignorant man who goeth into the desert to chasten his heart cannot succeed.
Nanak, if the heart be chastened, it must be by reflection on the Guru's instruction.
Even though every one desire to chasten his heart, he cannot succeed ;
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 237
But man, O Nanak, shall chasten his heart, if he meet the true Guru.
Were a man to forget God he would deserve expulsion from his fraternity :—
Were I to become a pandit or an astrologer and recite the four Veds ;
Were I to be worshipped for my wisdom and teaching in the nine regions of the world,
May it not be that I should forget the true Name and that none should touch my cooking-square.1
Cooking-squares are all false ; Nanak, God alone is true.
It is when man ceases to think of merits and demerits and fixes his attention on God alone that he is saved :—
Merits and demerits are the same ; since God created both. Nanak, happiness is obtained by obeying God's order and pondering on the Guru's instruction.
The Guru refuses to use force to his slanderer :-
They who have no divine knowledge or a particle of fear in their hearts,
Have been destroyed by God ; Nanak, why slay the slain ?
The Guru rejects the Brahman's horoscope and censures his pride and pretended learning :—
To study one's mental horoscope 2 is the real happiness.
That Brahman is good who knoweth how to meditate on God;
Who reflecting on the Guru's instruction extolleth God and readeth His praises.
His birth is profitable, and he saveth his family.
In the next world there shall be no inquiry regarding caste ; to act according to the Word is the real thing.
Vain is all other study, vain all other acting, since man thus becometh attached to sin.
The perverse man hath no internal happiness ; his life is ruined.
Nanak, they who are tinctured by the Name are saved by the Guru's boundless love.
BHAIRO
A pandit asked the Guru to listen to a discourse of his. The Guru refused. Upon this the pandit said he himself was a Brahman while the Guru was only a Khatri, and it was the duty of Khatris to listen to Brahmans. The Guru replied as follows :—
Let none be proud of his caste. He who knoweth God is a Brahman. O stupid fool, be not proud of thy caste ; From such pride many sins result. Everybody saith there are four castes, But they all proceeded from God's seed. The world is all made out of one clay, But the Potter fashioned it into vessels of many sorts. The body is formed from the union of five elements ; Let any one consider if he hath less or more in his com position.
Saith Nanak, the soul is fettered by its acts.
Without meeting the true Guru salvation is not obtained.
BASANT
The sectarial dresses, the scriptures, and the pilgrimages of the Hindus are of no avail :-
Even if man take off his clothes, become naked
And wear matted hair, how can he obtain union with
God?
His mind is not pure, nor tarrieth it at the tenth gate. The foolish person wandereth and returneth again and
again in transmigration.
O foolish man, meditate on the one God,
And thou shalt at once cross the world's ocean.
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 239
They who expound the Simritis and the Shastars,
And who as divines and learned men read the Purans,
Practise in their hearts hypocrisy and deception.
God cometh not near them ;
How shall they obtain the Pure One,
Who while practising great self-restraint
And performing ceremonial works and special adoration,
Have greed within them, and harbour the deadly sins in their hearts ?
What can he make who is made himself,
And whose movements are in God's power ?
If God look on him with favour, his doubts shall cease ;
And if he understand God's order, he shall obtain the True One.
He in whose heart is the filth of sin
May wander on pilgrimages through the countries of the world ;
Yet, O Nanak, it is only when he associateth with the true Guru
That the obstacles in the terrible ocean shall break for his passage.
The holy enjoy perpetual spring :—
When spring cometh, the forests bloom ;
But men and lower animals only bloom by thinking on God:
In this way the mind is refreshed.
By repeating God's name day and night under the Guru's instruction pride is removed and washed away.
When the true Guru reciteth his verses and hymns,
The world bloometh again by his love.
Fruits and flowers are produced when God Himself produceth them.
When man findeth the true Guru, he attacheth himself to God, the root of all things.
God is the spring ; the whole world is His garden ;
Nanak, by perfect good fortune special service is per formed.
SARANG KI WAR
The Hindus fast on the eleventh day of the light and dark halves of the lunar month. Besides these certain other days of the lunations are occasionally dedicated to certain Hindu divinities. Thus the ninth is sacred to Devi, the tenth to Digpal, or the elephants who support the eight points of the com pass, the eleventh to Vishnu, and the twelfth to Bawan, his dwarf incarnation. The Guru in the following gives substitutes for these fasts. The slok was addressed to Brahmans who censured the Guru for his neglect of fasting :—
If man on the ninth day make a vow to speak the truth,
His lust, wrath, and covetousness will depart.
The tenth day is auspicious if one restrain the organs of action and perception : the eleventh day is auspicious if one then know that God is one.
If on the twelfth day man preserve himself from the five deadly sins, then, O Nanak, shall he be happy.
If fasts be thus observed, O Pandit, why give more in struction ?
Brahmans and sectaries obtain no advantage from reading and pilgrimages :—
Pandits and men vowed to silence grow weary of reading ; men who wear sectarial dresses grow weary of wandering from country to country.
Through love of the world they never obtain God's name, and very great misery attacheth to them.
They are stupid and blind, and make it their business to serve mammon.
With deception in their hearts the fools read books to fill their bellies.
They who have expelled pride from their hearts, serve the true Guru and obtain happiness.
Nanak, there is only one Name to read and meditate on ; a few reflecting men know this.
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 241
Man must accept the inevitable. As he came naked into the world, so must he depart :—
Naked man cometh, naked he departeth — such is the will of God ; what can be done ?
He who gave life will take it away. With whom shall man be angry on that account ?
He who is pious obeyeth God's will and tranquilly quaffeth divine nectar.
Nanak, ever praise the Giver of happiness, and repeat His name with thy tongue.
No hope from false gods :—
When men have forgotten God's name, what other name will they utter ?
They are as worms in ordure ; their worldly affairs like thieves have robbed them.
May Nanak not forget God's name ! False is all other desire.
The fate of those who forget the Name :—
They who forget the Name, even though they perform
many other religious acts,
Are bound and beaten in the city of Death, O Nanak,
like robbers caught house-breaking.
Man should be firm in his devotion :—
As long as the mind is inconstant, man indulgeth in great pride and arrogance.
He relisheth not the Word and loveth not the Name.
His service is not acceptable ; he fretteth and fretteth until he becometh an object of contempt.
Nanak, call him a servant who would cut off his head, place it before his master,
Obey the order of the true Guru, and take his instruction to heart.
Only what pleases God can be deemed devotion, penance, and service :—
If man renounce his pride, God will pardon him and blend him with Himself.
Man once blended with God will never be separated ; light will be blended with light.
Nanak, that man knoweth God whom he causeth to know Him through the Guru's favour.
God is ever young, and His name is ever holy :—
The True One never groweth old, and His name is never defiled.
He who walketh in the way of the Guru shall not be born again.
Nanak, he who forgetteth the Name shall both come and go.
He who obeys and loves the Almighty needs not fear death :—
The order of the Unconcerned is over all ; no artifice can succeed and no argument prevail against Him.
The holy man who effaceth himself, accepteth God's will, seeketh His protection,
And renounceth his pride, shall not feel Death's mace.
Nanak, he is a worshipper who fixeth his love on the True One.
The Creator and the creature contrasted :—
All gifts, splendour, and beauty are Thine, O God ;
Many artifices and pride are mine.
They who harbour covetousness, worldly love, and pride shall never be free from transmigration, however many ceremonial acts they perform.
Nanak, the Creator Himself causeth to act ; what pleaseth Him is good.
MALAR KI WAR
The mental happiness obtained by heeding pious instruction :—
On meeting the Guru the mind is happy as after rain the earth is decorated :
Everything appeareth green, the lakes and pools are filled to the brim.
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 243
The colour of the True Ons attacheth to the heart as redness to madder.
The lotus of the heart bloometh by obeying the True One ; man is rendered happy by the Guru's word.
The perverse turn to worldly love ; carefully consider this.
The god of death is seen standing over their heads as if they were ensnared deer.
Avarice, covetousness, and slander are evil ; lust and wrath terrible.
God appeareth not to our eyes until we reflect on His word.
They who please Thee, O God, acquire patience, and no longer have domestic entanglements.
By serving the Guru man saveth his capital ; l the Guru is a ladder and a boat of salvation.
Nanak, they who love God obtain Him ; Thou art true, 0 God, and true is he who obeyeth Thee.
When the Guru instructs, the heart assumes a different colour. It is supposed that an Indian woman's passions increase when there are clouds. Here she is considering what her relations with her spouse will be — whether he will withdraw or grant her his love. In the latter case she will be held to be imbued with a different colour.
Lowering clouds come and give the earth different colours.
I know not how long the love with which I have inspired my spouse will endure.
The women shall be happy in whose hearts there are fear and love.
Nanak, they who feel not fear and love are not happy.
When lowering clouds come and the pure rain falleth,
O Nanak, the women who have broken with their spouse are unhappy.
When lowering clouds come and rain falleth continuously,
R 2
It is God alone who sends rain :—
Why stand ye up to look ? unhappy people, this cloud can do nothing.
It is He who sent the cloud ye should treasure in your hearts.
He giveth Himself a residence in the hearts of those on whom He looketh with favour.
Nanak, all on whom God looketh not with favour shall lament.
As the chatrik is in need of rain, so is man in need of divine instruction :—
O chatrik, every one longeth for Him on whom thou callest.
When God is merciful it \vill rain, and the forests and glades become green.
God is found by the Guru's favour ; few are they who know this.
Resting or standing continually meditate on Him, and thou shalt be happy for ever and ever.
Nanak, nectar ever raineth ; God bestoweth it on the pious.
God sends a divine teacher when required :—
When the world is in distress, it heartily prayeth.
The True One attentively listeneth and with His kind disposition l granteth consolation !
He giveth orders to the cloud-god and the rain falleth in torrents.2
Then corn and wealth are produced in great abundance and of untold value.
Nanak, praise His name who giveth to all creatures their sustenance,
By eating whereof happiness is produced, and misery felt no more.
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 245
God knows man's necessities better than he knows them himself :—
O chatrik, cry not and allow not thy heart to long for water ; obey the order of the Lord.
Nanak, by obeying His order thy thirst shall depart, and thou shalt have fourfold love for Him.
There is no lack of divine instruction, but men receive it not : —
O chatrik, thy dwelling is in the water ; thou wanderest in the water ;
Thou knowest not the water's value and so thou fallest a-screaming.
It raineth everywhere on sea and land ; there is no place without rain.
So much rain falleth that they who are dying of thirst and receive it not are unfortunate.
Nanak, the pious in whose hearts God dwelleth find the water.
It is they who are favoured by God who receive divine instruction :—
This water raineth on every one ; God by His kind disposition causeth it to fall.
The trees which by the Guru's instruction are absorbed in God become green.1
Nanak, the animals on which God looketh with favour become happy and their misery departeth.
The bliss of those who receive divine instruction:—
On a wet night there is lightning and it raineth in torrents :
If it be the will of God, where it raineth much corn and wealth shall be produced,
By using which the heart will be satisfied and men will perform their duties.
This wealth is the sport of the Creator ; it sometimes cometh and sometimes goeth ;
But the Name is the wealth of those who possess divine knowledge ; they are ever absorbed in it.
Nanak, they on whom God looketh with favour, shall obtain this wealth.
As the chatrik will not drink ordinary water, so men will not receive instruction :—
This world is a chatrik ; let none make a mistake herein.
This chatrik is an animal without understanding, other wise it would know
That God's name is nectar, by drinking which thirst departeth.
Nanak, the pious who drink it shall not again be thirsty.
When God is merciful men receive saving in struction :—
The Malar is refreshing ; by meditation on God in it comfort is obtained.
If God show His mercy it raineth over the whole world.
By rain animals obtain the means of subsistence, and the earth is decorated.
Nanak, this world is all water ; from water everything hath sprung.
The few who know God by the Guru's favour are ever emancipated.
God, without being asked, gives man what is good
for him :—
0 chatrik, thou knowest not the palace of the Lord ; when thou seest it pray there.
Thou pratest much to please thyself ; thy words are not acceptable.
The Lord is very beneficent ; what thou desirest thou shalt obtain from Him.
Then the world's thirst to say nothing of thine, poor chatrik, shall depart.1
HYMNS OF GURU AMAR DAS 247
The chatrik, on obtaining the special drops it desires, is compared to the man disposed to receive instruction :—
The chatrik on a rainy night naturally loving the True One crieth—
' This water is my life ; without water I cannot live.'
So by the Guru's instruction the water of life is found when man dispelleth his pride.
Nanak, the true Guru hath caused me to meet Him without whom I cannot live for a moment.
God is not to be importuned for secular favours :—
O chatrik, the chaste woman obtaineth access to her spouse's chamber ; the unchaste one is banished.
Within thee, God dwelleth and is ever present with the holy.
Thou shalt not have to shout and scream when God looketh on thee with favour.
Nanak, they who love the Name and act according to the Guru's instruction, shall be easily blended with God.
In the following the chatrik represents the pious man praying for the gift of life :—
The chatrik prayeth, ' O God, mercifully grant me the gift of life !
' Without water my thirst will not be quenched : I shall expire.
' Thou 0 God, art the Giver of happiness, illimitable ; Thou art the Giver and treasury of favours.'
Nanak, God pardoneth the pious and at the last hour becometh their Friend.
The worldly man, like the chatrik, accepts not what God grants him, but seeks his own advan tages : —
O chatrik, thou knowest not what thirst there is within thee, and by what draught it shall be quenched.
Through worldly love thou wanderest, and the immortal water thou obtain est not.
t SIKH. II
If God cast His glance of favour, the true Guru will be easily found.
Nanak, the immortal water will be obtained from him, and man will be easily absorbed in God.
When man rises early for prayer his supplication is granted :—
The chatrik calleth at the ambrosial hour of morning,1 and his prayer is heard in God's court.
God mercifully issueth an order to the cloud to kindly rain.2
The joy felt by the holy in the rainy season :—
Woman shall be happy in Sawan by reflecting on the Guru's instruction.
Nanak, by her unequalled love for the Guru she shall ever be a happy wife ;
But she who is devoid of virtue, and who is attached to a second love shall burn in Sawan.
Nanak, she careth not for her spouse, and therefore despiseth all decoration.