God always beholdeth and heareth everything, O my life ; it is he who committeth sin who feareth.
All fear departeth from him, O my life, whose heart is pure within him.
He who hath faith in God's name is fearless, O my life, though all the hostile and the shameless slander him.
They who have worshipped the perfect Guru Nanak, O my life, make all men bow at their feet.
Ever worship such a God, O my life, as is the great Lord of all.
They who have worshipped the one God with single mind, O my life, care for no one.
By serving the Guru God's palace is attained, O my life ; all slanderers talk foolishness and give causeless annoyance.
0 my life, the Lord God hath written good fortune on that man's forehead in the beginning who meditateth on Him.1
BIHAGRE KI WAR
It is God who performs all the agricultural and culinary operations by which man subsists. The following hymn is sung after Sikh entertainments :—
God Himself is the soil, Himself the tiller ; it is He who causeth the corn to spring up and be ground ;
It is He who cooketh it ; it is He who putteth the food into dishes and serveth it ; it is He who sitteth down to eat it.
He is the finger-water ; He giveth the toothpick ; He holdeth the water to wash the mouth.
It is He who ever seateth the saints at His banquet ; it is He who dischargeth them.
God causeth him to whom He is merciful to obey His order.
WADHANS GHORIAN
The following, in which the body is compared to a steed to be kept under subjection, is sung at marriages :—
The body is a steed which God created.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 323
Hail to human birth obtained by meritorious acts !
Human birth is obtained by greatly meritorious acts ; the body is fine gold
Which by the Guru's instruction is dyed a rich colour, O God, a new colour.
This body by which God's name is repeated is beautiful as adorned by His name.
It is obtained by great good fortune ; the Name is its companion : O slave Nanak, it is God who created it.
Having well reflected put a saddle thereon.1
Mount it, Sir, and thou shalt cross the dangerous ocean.
The dangerous ocean in which there are many waves shall be crossed through the Guru's instruction.
Very fortunate people, making God the boat, embark thereon and cross over ; the pilot Guru ferrieth men over by the Word.
Him who night and day singeth God's love and God's praises, God the Lover imbueth with His love.
The slave Nanak hath obtained the rank of nirvan, God's highest and best rank.
The Guru hath put divine knowledge as a bit into the mouth,
And applied God's love as a whip to the body :
The pious man who hath conquered his own mind, applieth God's love as a whip to his body.
He obtaineth the Word, fashioneth his unfashioned mind, and drinketh God's nectar.
He who heareth the Word which the Guru uttereth, dyeth his steed with God's colour,2
Traverseth the great and difficult way, O Nanak, and crosseth over.
God created the body a fleet mare.
The body by which God's name is repeated is blest, is blest.
The body by which God's name is repeated, the result of prenatal acts, is to be congratulated and praised.
Man having under the Guru's instruction mounted his
Y 2
body as a mare, crosseth the difficult way and meeteth the Primal Joy.
The perfect God hath arranged the marriage feast ; a company of saints hath come as the marriage procession.
O slave Nanak, I have obtained God as my Spouse ; the holy men meeting rejoice and utter gratulations.
SORATH KI WAR
The relation of God to His servants :—
God loveth His slaves ; God is a friend of His slaves.
God is in the power of His slaves as a musical instrument in the power of the musician.
God's slaves meditate on God and bear affection to the Beloved.
Mercifully hear me, O God ; may rain fall throughout the whole world !
The praise of God's slaves contributeth to God's great ness.
God is pleased with His own greatness when His slaves are congratulated.
It is they who meditate on God's name ; God and God's saints are the same.
The slave Nanak is God's servant ; O God, preserve his honour.
He who has no faith in the Guru is stupid and deceitful :—
He in whose heart is spiritual ignorance and who hath no faith in the Guru hath but a poor understanding.
He in whose heart there is deceit deemeth every one deceitful ; through this deception he is ruined.
What is pleasing to the Guru entereth not his mind ; he wandereth about for his own object.
If God be merciful, Nanak shall be absorbed in His words.
The fate of him who is accursed of the Guru :— He who is accursed of the true Guru shall leave his home and wander for ever :
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 325
He shall be followed by hootings and his face shall be blackened in the next world :
Incoherent words shall ever issue from his lips, and he shall die spluttering them forth.
What if anybody do anything ? he shall only obtain the result of his prenatal acts.
Wherever he goeth he shall be proved a liar ; falsehood pleaseth no one.
Brethren and saints, behold God's graciousness ; as man doeth so shall he receive.
This will be God's decision in His true court ; the slave Nanak foretelleth this.
DHANASARI
How man's impurities are removed :—
The rust of the sins of many births attaches to man ; but when he joins the guild of holy men it is filed away : So when gold is heated in the fire, its impurity is removed.
Obedience to the Guru inculcated :—
We are totally blind, saturated with the greatest sins ; how shall we walk in the Guru's way ?
May the true Guru, the bestower of happiness, mercifully take us under his protection !
Sikhs of the Guru and friends, walk in God's way.
Faithfully obey 1 what the Guru preacheth ; Divine teaching is unique.
Hear, servants of God and brethren, serve the Guru very promptly.
Tie up service to the Guru as thy travelling expenses to God ; think not of to-day or to-morrow.
Saints of God, repeat His name ; saints of God, let us walk with God.
He who repeateth God's name becometh as God, and meeteth God who sport eth.
To repeat God's name is the longing of my heart : O God, Dweller in the forest, have mercy.
Thy slave Nanak prayeth — O God, cause me to meet the company of holy men and be the dust of their feet.
Let God be ever in man's thoughts :—
Read of God, write of God, repeat God's name, sing God's name, and He will cause thee to cross the terrible ocean.
Meditate on God in thy heart with thought and word, and so repeat His name that thou mayest be happy.
Mentally repeat the name of God, the Lord of the world ;
And, O my friends, meet the company of the saints.
Sing of God, the Dweller in the forest, and you shall be happy day and night.
When God cast a look of favour on me, then I made mental effort ; by repeating God's name I have been saved.
O my Lord, preserve Thy servant Nanak's honour ; he hath entered Thine asylum.
JAITSARI
God is a diamond which the Guru has made his own for the benefit of others :—
A diamond or a ruby, however priceless or heavy, is, without a purchaser, as a blade of grass.
When the holy Guru the purchaser saw the jewel, he bought it for hundreds of thousands.
God was concealed as a diamond in my heart.
When God, compassionate to the poor, caused me to meet the saintly Guru, I assayed the Diamond.
In the house of the perverse is the darkness of igno rance ; in their houses the Diamond is not seen.
The pagans die wandering in the wilderness ; they have tasted of the poison of the serpent mammon.
O God, cause me to meet Thy saint, the good man ; O God, keep me under the saint's protection !
O Lord God, accept me ; I have hastened to Thy side.
What praise of Thine can my tongue recount ? Thou art great and inaccessible, the greatest Being.
The slave Nanak prayeth — O God, show mercy to me ; O God, preserve me who am sinking like a stone.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 327
Men are as silly children without the Guru :—
I am a child, foolish, stupid, and silly, and know nothing of Thy state or condition.
O God, be merciful, grant me the best understanding, and make me who am stupid wise.
My mind is lazy and drowsy.
Love the Guru every moment, O my heart, that God's name may become my love and life.
Without the Name I should die, O my Lord, as a drunkard craveth for intoxicants.1
The hearts of those who have good fortune from the beginning love God.
1 worship at all times the feet of those who have made God dear to me.
O God, my Lord, have mercy on me, cause me, who hath long been separated from Thee, to meet Thy saint.
Hail ! hail to the true Guru who hath implanted God's name in me ! The slave Nanak is a sacrifice unto him.
The repetition of God's name and praises secures salvation :—
O God, the mothers of those who keep not God's name in their hearts ought to have been barren.
They who wander without the Name pine away and die in agony.
0 man, repeat the name of God who is within thee. God the merciful hath shown me mercy ; when the Guru
gave me divine instruction my mind understood it.
The praise of God in the Kal age holdeth the highest place ; God is obtained through the true Guru.
1 am a sacrifice to my true Guru who hath disclosed to me God's hidden name.
A sight of the holy man is obtained by great good fortune ; he removeth all sin.
I have found the true Guru who is a very clever mer-
chant ; he hath made me a partner in God's many attri butes.
They to whom the Life of the world hath shown mercy, have clasped Him to their hearts.
Dharmraj in his court hath torn up my papers1; the slave Nanak hath settled his account.
BAIRARI
The position and occupation of the child in the womb :—
When the child reversed was praying in the pit of fire, God preserved him in the womb.
TILANG
God is supreme and has no partner :—
All come by the Master's order ; His order extendeth over all.
True is the Lord, and true is all His play.
Praise the True One ; God the Master is over all.
He hath no partner ; of whom shall I take account ?
God hath built His temple out of air, water, earth, and ether.
He Himself abideth in the centre ; say what can be accounted false ?
Instruction for the faithless :—
The proud man of evil mind ever doeth fruitless work.
When he practiseth deceit and falsehood, he thinketh he hath conquered the world.
Such is his way in this life ; he never remembereth God's name.
In a moment everything that is false shall perish ; O my mind, meditate on God.
The time cometh not to thy memory when the torturer Death shall seize thee.
Nanak, God will redeem him in whose heart He merci fully dwelleth.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 329
Guru Ram Das's devotion to Guru Amar Das and his disciples :—
My friend the Guru hath told me tales and parables of God.
I am a sacrifice to my Guru ; to the Guru I am a sacrifice.
Come to me, Sikhs of the Guru ; come to me, beloved of my Guru.
God's praises are pleasing to Him ; I have obtained them from the Guru.
To those who obey the will of the Guru I am ever a sacrifice ;
I am a sacrifice to those who have beheld the beloved true Guru ;
I am ever a sacrifice to those who have served the Guru.
instruction is salvation.
They who meditate on God's name are accepted :
Nanak, I am a sacrifice to them, and ever and ever offer myself for them.
That, O God, is Thy praise which is pleasing unto Thee.
The holy men who serve the Beloved obtain Him as their reward.
God is with the souls of those who hold Him dear.
They repeat and remember the name of the beloved God, and live for ever.
1 am a sacrifice to the holy ones who have served the Beloved.
They are saved themselves with their families, and have freed the whole world.
The Guru who hath served the Beloved God is blest, is blest.
The Guru who hath shown God's way hath performed merit, the greatest merit.
The Guru's disciples who serve him are meritorious beings :
The slave Nanak is a sacrifice unto them, and ever and ever offereth himself for them.
They are holy friends and companions ; they are pleasing to God Himself.
God in His court clotheth them with robes of honour and embraceth them.
Grant me, O Lord, a sight of the holy men who meditate on Thy name :
I will bathe their feet, stir and drink the dirt thereof.
They who, while eating betel leaf and betel nut and dyeing their lips therewith,
Never think of God, shall be seized and taken away by Death ;
But Death shall never approach those who remember God's name,
And clasp it to their hearts — the Guru's Sikhs are dear to the Guru.
God's name is a treasure : some rare pious person knoweth this.
Nanak, they who meet the true Guru shall enjoy the highest pleasure.
The true Guru is the giver ; being pleased he bestoweth favours.
I am ever a sacrifice to the Guru who gave me the Name.
The Guru who giveth God's love is congratulated and praised.
As I behold the Guru I am glad ; the Guru is true, the Guru is the giver.
The Guru's tongue uttereth nectar, and is adorned with God's name.
All the hunger of the Sikhs who hear and obey the Guru departeth.
Men speak of God's way ; say how shall we walk therein ?
Har Har is Thy name, O God ; take Har l with thee, O man, as thy travelling expenses.
The pious who have adored God are wealthy and very wise.
I am ever a sacrifice to the true Guru ; I am absorbed in the Guru's word.
Thou art Master, Thou art Lord, Thou art my sovereign. 1 That is, God's name.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 331
If it please Thee, we perform Thy service ; Thou art an ocean of merits.
Thou art, O God, of one phase, and Thou art of many phases.
Saith Nanak, whatever pleaseth Thee is good.
SUHI Instructions for the deceitful :—
If man while publicly invoking God ever practise deceit, his heart shall never become pure.
He may day and night perform many ceremonies, but he shall not have happiness even in his dreams.
Without the Guru possessed of divine knowledge there can be no devotion.
Unbleached clothes can never be dyed, however much all may desire it.
The malady of the perverse departeth not, even though they perform lip-worship, penance, austerities, and fasting.
Their internal malady is great pride ; they are ruined by worldly love.
He who while in a religious garb practiseth cunning, who alloweth his mind to wander in every direction,
Who is filled with pride and regardeth not the Word, shall wander in transmigration again and again.
Nanak, he on whom God looketh with favour under- standeth, meditateth on the Name,
By the Guru's favour knoweth the one God, and shall be absorbed in Him.
Men of the lowest castes obtain salvation by devotion :—
He who even of low caste repeateth God's name shall obtain the highest dignity.
Ask Bidur * the son of a handmaiden, in whose house Krishan stayed.
Hear the ineffable word of God, my brethren, by which all anxiety, pain, and hunger are removed.
Men praise Rav Das the tanner who every moment sang the one God's praises.
Though of fallen caste he became the best : the four castes came and fell at his feet.
The Khatris and Brahmans called Namdev who loved God a calico-printer ;
But God turned His back on them and showed His face to Namdev.
The sixty-eight places of pilgrimage yield the palm of victory l to the worshippers and saints of God.
May the slave Nanak through God's mercy night and day touch their feet !
The worship of God, the only permanent good, is inculcated :—
Where God is remembered, there He becometh a friend and helper.
God dwelleth in the heart by the favour of the Guru ; He is not otherwise obtained.
Amass God's wealth, my brethren,
So that God may assist you in this world and the next.
God's wealth is earned in the company of the holy ; God's wealth is not obtained elsewhere or by other effort.
The holy who deal in God's jewels purchase the jewel of God's wealth : dealers in glass acquire not God's wealth by idle words.2
God's wealth is as jewels, ornaments, and gems :
God's saints fix their attention on it at the suitable am brosial hour.
When God's wealth is sown at the suitable ambrosial hour, God's saints eat it, spend it, and it never faileth.
Both in this world and the next the saints who deal in God's wealth are congratulated.
There is no fear for God's wealth ; it ever remaineth
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 333
immovable and permanent ; it cannot be destroyed by lire or by water ; it is not the prey of thieves or of Death's myrmidons.
Pickpockets cannot approach God's wealth, nor can the tax-gatherer Death impose a tax on it.
The apostates through sin have amassed sinful wealth, but not a particle of it shall go with them.
In this world the apostate is miserable when wealth slippeth from his hands : the apostate shall not find entrance into God's court hereafter.
The dealer in this wealth of God, O saints, is God Him self ; he to whom He giveth it, loadeth it and taketh it away.
This wealth of God shall never suffer deficiency ; the Guru hath given this knowledge to the slave Nanak.
SUHI ASHTAPADI
The Guru's passionate desire to obey and serve God:-
I will sell myself to him who bringeth my dearly Beloved to me.
I desire to behold God.
By God's mercy the true Guru will cause me to meet Him and meditate on His name.
If Thou give me happiness, O God, I will worship Thee ; even in misery I will meditate on Thee.
If Thou give me hunger even then I shall be satiated with it ; and in its torture I shall feel happy.
I would cut up my body and soul and dedicate them all to Thee, or I would burn myself in fire ;
I would fan Thee and draw Thee water ; what Thou givest me I should eat.
Poor Nanak hath fallen at Thy door, O God ; Thine acceptance of him will be to Thy glory.
I would take out mine eyes and put them beneath Thy feet : having wandered over the whole earth I have gained this wisdom.
If Thou seat me near Thee, I will still reverence Thee ;
even if Thou strike me and thrust me away, I will still meditate on Thee.
If men praise me, then the praise is Thine ; if they slander me, even then I will not leave Thee.
If Thou art on my side, men may say what they please ; if Thou forget me, I die.
I am a sacrifice to the perfect Guru : falling at their feet I propitiate the saints.
Poor Nanak is mad for a sight of Thee,
SUHI CHHANT
The following, which Guru Ram Das composed on the occasion of his marriage, is now an epithalamium of the Sikhs.
God by this first round l hath ordained secular life.2
Accept the Word instead of Brahma and religion instead of the Veds,
And God will free you from your sins.
Hold fast to religion, meditate on God's name, and let it be fixed in your memory.
Worship the true Guru, the perfect Guru, and all your sins shall depart.
Very fortunate is man when God is near to his heart ; then he feeleth composure and happiness.
The slave Nanak hath given out the first round and made a beginning of the marriage.
In the second round God hath caused me to meet the true Guru.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 335
The fear in my heart hath departed, and the filth of my mind hath been washed away.
I have obtained a pure state by singing God's praises and beholding Him before me.
The Lord God the soul of the world is everywhere diffused and filleth every place.
Within and without us is the one God ; on meeting the saints, hymns of rejoicing are sung.
The slave Nanak hath finished the second round and heard the strain of ecstasy.
God hath appointed the third round, and pleasure and contempt of the world are produced in the mind.
The saints have caused me to meet God, and I have found Him by great good fortune.
I have found the pure God by singing His praises and uttering His hymns.
I have by great good fortune found the company of the saints wherein tales of the Ineffable are told.
The absorbing thought of God hath arisen in my heart, and I have repeated His name by the destiny recorded on my forehead.
The slave Nanak hath given out the third round, and God's love hath been produced in his heart.
At the fourth round divine knowledge is produced in the heart, and I have obtained God.
Under the Guru's instructions I have obtained a good disposition, and God is dear to my soul and body :
God is dear and pleasing to me ; I meditate on Him night and day.
By singing the praises of God's name I have obtained the fruit my heart desired.
God hath finished the work, and woman's heart delighteth in His name.
The slave Nanak hath given out the fourth round, and obtained God the Imperishable.
The Guru composed the following also on his marriage :—
The Lord God hath accomplished the work ;
He came to wed a holy bride :
He came to wed a holy bride who thus found God ; that bride is dear to her Spouse.
On meeting the saints songs of rejoicing are sung ; God Himself hath decorated the bride.
Demigods, men, and heavenly minstrels have come in a body, and formed a marriage procession never seen before.
Nanak, I have found the true God who never dieth or is born.
BlLAWAL ASHTAPADI
Association with the holy and acceptance of their teachings are superior to the life of a Jogi :—
By intercourse with the true Guru the rings I wear are in my heart, and the instruction of the Guru I have applied as ashes to my body.
I renounced family life and wandered in the forest, but my heart was not at rest even for a moment.
After wandering I returned home, and fell at the feet of God's saints.
Even the Sanyasi who abandoneth his children con- ceiveth many desires in his heart :
He conceiveth desire upon desire, and knoweth not that under the Guru's instruction man is freed from desires and is happy.
When the wish for separation ariseth, man becometh a Digambar, yet his mind wandereth in every direction.
He roameth about, but his thirst is not quenched ; it is only when he meeteth the saints that he attaineth the abode of mercy.
The Sidhs study many postures and earnestly desire wealth and the tricks of supernatural power.
They are not satisfied or contented, nor doth peace enter their minds : it is by meeting the saints man is satisfied, and by God's name he obtaineth perfection.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 337
As God made all men on an equality, so they obtain salvation :—
God made the sources of production, human beings, and animals of all colours and forms :
He who taketh the saints' protection shall be saved. Khatris, Brahmans, Sudars, Vaisyas, the whole race of Chandals,
Namdev, Jaidev, Kabir, Trilochan, the low caste Rav Das, the currier,
And those who met the company of holy men, such as the blessed Dhanna Jat and Sain, obtained God.
God, to whom His saints are dear, protecteth their honour and accepteth them.
Nanak, he who entereth the asylum of God, the life of the world, is mercifully preserved by Him.
GAUND Place all thy hopes in God :—
O man, if thou rest thy hopes on God thou shalt obtain the fruits, however various, that thy heart desireth.
God knoweth everything that passeth in the mind ; He alloweth not man to lose a particle of his labour.
O my soul, put thy hope in that Lord God who is con tained in everything :
O my soul, put thy hope in God, the Lord of the world.
The hopes which are put in any other than God are fruitless and all in vain.
The Guru is completely penetrated by God's love : —
My soul, like a thirsty man without water, greatly yearneth for a sight of God.
The arrow of God's love hath pierced my heart.
God knoweth my suffering, the pain within my heart.
He who telleth me anything of my beloved God, is my brother, is my friend.
Join, join, my companions, sing the praises of my Lord, and adopt the counsel of the patient true Guru.
Fulfil, O Lord, every desire of the slave Nanak ; on beholding Thee my mind is at rest.
RAMKALI
They who unselfishly meet the saint shall obtain their reward :—
If I have very great good fortune I shall have no delay in meeting the saint.
God's saints are my excellent tank of nectar : by great good fortune shall man bathe therein.
1 will draw water, fan him, grind his corn, shampoo his feet, and put the dust thereof on my face.
The saint of God, who causeth man to meet the true Guru, is very great and exalted.
There is none so great as the true Guru ; on meeting him meditate upon God.
They who entered the true Guru's protection obtained God, and He preserved their honour.
Some people come for their own objects, and sit in front of the Guru like cranes in the act of meditation.
When the crane goeth into the society of the base crow, he putteth his beak into a poisonous carcass.
Saith Nanak, O God, cause me to meet holy company, that meeting it I may be made a saint of Thine.
NAT ASHTAPADI The advantage of holy company :—
The true Guru's knowledge is the best thing wherein to bathe ; by obtaining it the filth of sin departeth.
The advantages of holy company are very great — the courtesan was saved by teaching her parrot to repeat God's name ; l
The touching of Krishan's feet took the hunchback2 to heaven.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 339
Ajamal bore love to his son, and called out, ' Narayan ! ' l
His faith pleased my God's heart and He smote and expelled the myrmidons of Death.
Man preacheth and dictateth to others, but practiseth not what he preacheth ;
But, on meeting the company of the saints, obtaineth staunchness of faith, and God's name saveth him.
As long as the mind and body are healthy, man remem- bereth not God.
When the house is on fire, is that the time for the water man to dig a well from which to draw water ?
O man, associate not with the apostate who hath for gotten God's name.
The word of the apostate stingeth like a scorpion ; leave the apostate far away.
When love is bestowed, it increaseth greatly ; attach ment to the holy regenerateth.
They who accept the Guru's words as absolutely true, are very dear to my Lord.
According to our dealings in previous births, God's name becometh dear.
By the favour of the Guru the ambrosial juice of the Name is obtained ; man singeth and pondereth on it.
Everything shall be according to the colour Thou givest ; saith Nanak, what is wretched man ?
God's word and the Guru are interchangeable terms :—
The Word is the Guru and the Guru is the Word ; in the Word is the essence of ambrosia.
The worshipper who obeyeth what the Guru's word teacheth shall be saved by the Guru in person.
uncle, but on accidentally meeting Krishan applied it to his feet. He raised her from her stooping posture, upon which it is said her hump disappeared, and her body became perfect.
Z 2
Ablutions and decorations are of no avail without listening to the Guru :—
Man continually washeth his body, and rubbeth it and adorneth it ;
But the beautiful decorations of him whose heart accepteth not the words of my true Guru are all in vain.
MARU KI WAR I
The Guru is potent to save under all circum stances :—
I will embark on the boat and proceed, however agitated be the sea.
The true boat cannot be stopped if the Guru give en couragement.
I will disembark at that landing-place where the Guru is seen on the alert.
Nanak, if I obtain God's look of favour I shall be honoured in His court.
BASANT The presence of God in every heart :—
As the light of the sun's rays is diffused,
So is God the warp and woof contained in every heart.
Man's life is ever decreasing, and he ought to remember God the Saviour :—
Night and day are both calling- Remember God in your hearts : He is the Saviour at last
and for ever.
O my soul, ever remember God.
When man completely removeth the disease of sloth, he
obtaineth God and under the Guru's instruction singeth
His praises.
The obstinate die again and again of pride.
They who are destroyed by the demon Death shall go to
his city.
HYMNS OF GURU RAM DAS 341