Hymns of Guru Nanak 11
He chattereth not; he amasseth the wealth of patience and his passions he subdueth with God's name.
Blessings on that man, who whether householder, Sanyasi, or Jogi, fixeth his attention on God's feet.
He who in the midst of desires is without desires, and who loveth the one God is a Sanyasi.
He who drinketh God's essence and preserveth a religious attitude in his own home shall obtain peace.
The mind of the pious man who knoweth God wavereth not, but restraineth its wanderings.
He who under the Guru's instruction searcheth the house of the body, shall obtain the boon of the Name.
Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv are most exalted when they are imbued with the contemplation of the Name.
Thy light, O Lord, is in the sources of production, in compositions, in the firmament, in the lower regions, and in all creatures.
By repeating hymns containing God's true name and clasping it to the heart, all happiness and final deliverance shall be obtained.
No one can be saved without the Name; Nanak, that is the true way to swim across.
The following was delivered in a fit of extreme religious fervour to Mihan and Sihan:--
Woman, however many friends she may make, wandereth like an itinerant minstrel in transmigration.
She who is separated from God obtaineth no access to Him; how shall she be patient?
My soul is imbued with the love of the Beloved.
I am a sacrifice; I would cut myself in pieces for Thee look at me even for an instant with a glance of favour.
Separated as I am from my Beloved in my father's house, how shall I meet him in my father-in-law's?
I wear demerits round. my neck; I am ruined without the Beloved; I am pining to death.
If in my father's house I remember the Beloved, I shall find a dwelling in His.
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The wife who hath found her Beloved, the Lord of excellences, sleepeth in peace.
She maketh a silken coverlet and mattress for her couch, and arrayeth herself in a costly robe.
The wife whom her husband abandoneth passeth the night in grief.
Whatever dainties she tasteth and whatever dresses she weareth `
Her youth passeth in vain without her Beloved; she pineth away through separation from Him.
Hear the song of the True One under the Guru's instruction.
True is the throne of the True One; she on whom He looketh with favour loveth Him.
The possessor of divine knowledge applieth the salve of truth to her eyes, and then beholdeth Him who seeth all things.
He who under the Guru's instruction dispelleth his pride and arrogance, shall understand and know God.
They who please Thee, O God, are like Thee; how many unhappy wives there are like me:
Nanak, their Spouse parteth not from those who are imbued with the love of the True One.
God is the only true friend and relation:--
Nor sisters, nor brothers, nor mothers-in-law remain with one;
But, O companions, the true relationship with the Beloved, when found through the Guru, shall never be sundered.
I am a sacrifice to my Guru, I am ever a sacrifice unto him.
1 have grown weary of wandering so far without a guru; now the Guru hath united me with my Beloved.
Paternal and maternal aunts, grandmothers, and wives of husbands' younger and elder brothers
Come and go; they tarry not but depart like relays of passengers.
Maternal uncles and their wives, brothers, fathers, and mothers abide not.
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Assembled in great crowds at the river they depart with their baggage like travellers.
O my companions, my Husband is dyed with the true colour.
The true Husband never forsaketh; He enjoyeth one with delight.
All seasons are good for those who love the True One.
The woman who knoweth her husband enjoyeth happiness day[1] and night.
The ferryman calleth out at the ferry, 'Come on, make haste; you delay.'
I have seen at the other side those whom the Guru put into the boat.
Some have loaded their baggage, some have set out with it, and others are weighed down by their loads.
They who have made true traffic are with the true God.
1 am not good, nor do I find any one bad.
Nanak, he who effaceth his pride is as the True One.
MARU SOLHE
God has no incarnations:--
God's secret is not found in the Veds or the books of the Musalmans;
He hath not father or mother or son or brother.
There is no friend like God, who is to be obtained through the Guru by those who lead a holy life:--
I have no friend like God
Who gave me soul and body, and infused into me understanding.
He cherisheth and watcheth over all creatures; He is wise and knoweth the secrets of hearts.
The Guru is like a lake; we are his beloved swans
In the water are many jewels and rubies.
God's praises are pearls, gems, and diamonds; singing them maketh soul and body happy.
[1. Deh in the original, pronounced exactly like its English equivalent.]
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God is inaccessible, unfathomable, altogether distinct from His creation.
The great Sustainer of the earth hath no end.
God saveth man through the true Guru's instruction; He blendeth with Himself those who are absorbed in His love.
How can there be emancipation without the true Guru?
He loveth the primal God who was before all time,
Who mercifully granteth emancipation in His court, and pardoneth the sins which man committeth.
The true Guru is the giver and procurer of emancipation.
He prescribeth nectareous essence and cureth all diseases.
He whose avarice is extinguished and whose mind is cool, shall owe no tax to Death the tax-gatherer.
The body greatly loveth the soul;
The latter is a male Jogi, the former a beautiful woman.
He enjoyeth her in dalliance day and night, but goeth away without taking leave.
God having created the world arrangeth it;
He speaketh in the wind, water, and fire.
The mind of him who associateth with evil passions wavereth; he suffereth the consequences of his acts.
They who forget the Name shall have to endure pain and misery.
How can they tarry when they receive the order to depart?
They shall plunge into the pit of hell and suffer like fishes out of water.
The apostate shall undergo the pain of transmigration in eighty-four lakhs of species.
Man shall suffer according to his acts.
There is no salvation without the true Guru; man shall be seized and bound according to his acts.
Very narrow is the way like the edge of a sword.
Man's account shall be taken, and he shall be pressed like sesame.
There no mother, father, wife, or son will befriend thee without love for God there is no emancipation.
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However numerous one's friends and companions may be in the world,
There are no real friends but the Guru and God.
Salvation dependeth upon serving the Guru, and night and day singing God's praises.
Abandon falsehood, pursue truth,
And thou shalt obtain the fruit thy heart desireth.
Few are they who traffic in true merchandise; they who do so obtain profit.
Depart with the merchandise of God's name,
And thou shalt easily obtain a sight of God's court.
A perfect man under the Guru's instruction searcheth for God, and thus beholdeth Him who looketh on all alike.
God is infinite, but under the Guru's instruction is found by a few
Who teach their hearts the Guru's word.
Accept the true Guru's word as true; thus shalt thou be absorbed in God.
Narad and Saraswati are Thy servants, O Lord.
The greatest of the great in the three worlds are Thy servants.
In all things is Thy might; Thou bestowest on all everything is Thy creation.
Some worship at Thy gate, and thus dispel their sufferings.
They who are emancipated by the true Guru, receive a robe of honour in Thy court.
The true Guru breaketh the entanglements of pride, and hindereth the mind from wandering.
Meet the true Guru, look for the way
To reach God, and thus have no account against thee.
Efface pride and serve the Guru, O Nanak, and thou shalt be dyed with God's love.
Miscellaneous instruction of the Guru:--
The Creator is the true Lord
Who carefully supporteth the globe of the earth.
The Creator beholdeth the work of His hands; true and independent,
He created the different species of animals.
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Two travellers[1] have struck out two roads.
There is no emancipation without the perfect Guru; it is profitable to repeat the true Name.
The perverse man readeth, but knoweth not the way:
Led astray by error he knoweth not the Name.
The false evidence the evil man giveth for a bribe becometh like a halter round his neck.
Brahmans read the Simritis, the Shastars, and the Purans:
They engage in disputations, but know not the Real Thing:
Without the true Guru they find not the Real Thing.
They who are purified by the True One walk in the true way.
Everybody praiseth God and speaketh of Him as he hath heard.
God is wise and assayeth the true.
They on whom God looketh with favour are holy and praise His word.
How many speak of God according to what they have heard!
They speak of Him according to what they have heard, but know not His limit.
He to whom the Unseen hath manifested Himself knoweth the story of the Ineffable.
When one is born gratulations resound;
The ignorant sing songs of rejoicing.;
But he who is born shall assuredly die, and undergo the destiny allotted him.
It is my God who effecteth union and separation of the soul and body.
He who created the world assigned His creatures woe or weal;
But the holy who wear the armour of mildness are unaffected by them.
Good are they who deal in the truth
By the Guru's wisdom they obtain the true merchandise.
He who possesseth the wealth of the true merchandise, is enraptured with the true Word.
[1. The founders of the Hindu and Muhammadan religions.]
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Loss accrueth from false dealings.
The pious carry on their dealings according to God's will.
Their capital remaineth intact, their stock-in-trade safe, and they escape from Death's noose.
Every one speaketh of God according to his own pleasure.
The perverse who are attached to mammon, know not how to speak of God.
The understanding and utterance of the blind man are blind; he shall suffer the pain of transmigration.
In pain he is born, in pain he dieth.
His pain cannot be removed except by seeking the Guru's protection.
In pain he is created, in pain he perisheth. What hath he brought with him? what shall he take away?
True are the acts of those who are subject to the Guru;
They shall not suffer transmigration or feel the edge of Death's sword.
He who abandoneth the branches of the tree of the world,[1] and only knoweth God the essential root of all things, enjoyeth true delight in his heart.
Death shall not punish godly people,
Nor shall they experience the pain of the difficult road.
They worship God's name in their hearts and mention no other.
They who repeat not God's praises shall be punished at last;
While they who please Thee, O God, shall abide according to Thy will:
They shall go with a robe of honour to Thy court and be happy by the True King's order.
Many describe Thine attributes, O Lord; what availeth my speaking?
The greatest of the great find not Thy limit.
Nanak, may I obtain the truth! preserve mine honour, O Lord; Thou art the Monarch of monarchs!
[1. Worldly entanglements.]
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The following is said to be instruction given to Taru and Bharu during the Baisakhi fair at Kartarpur:--
Put away from you lust, wrath, and slander;
Abandon avarice, and covetousness, and you shall be free from care.
He who breaketh the chain of superstition shall be free, and feel divine pleasure in his heart.
The happy and incomparable perfect Guru showeth man
Day and night the light within him, and he beholdeth it
Like a bright flash of lightning at night.
Meet the true Guru, and God Himself
Who placed the lamps of the moon and sun in the firmament of heaven will save you.
Continue to love God, and you shall behold the Unseen One pervading all three worlds.
He who obtaineth the ambrosial essence loseth his avarice and his fear.
He who effaceth himself obtaineth the fearless position.
He who acteth according to the pure Word shall attain a lofty degree, the loftiest of the lofty.
The Name of the Unseen and Inapprehensible is unequalled;
The juice of the beloved Name is exceeding sweet.
God's praises be given to Nanak, and in every age repeat ye His name whose end is not known.
The heart which hath obtained the diamond of the Name
Shall obtain patience by repeating and reverencing it.
Put the Destroyer of fear into thy stubborn heart, and thou shalt Dot be born again.
Man is saved by love of devotion and the Guru's word.
I crave the boon of the praise of God's name.
If God be pleased, He will cause us to meet the true Guru and save the whole world.
Death's myrmidons and Death himself worship the feet of those
Who repeat God's name under the Guru's teaching and directions.
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Man's state and condition become exalted by exalted company, and he crosseth over the terrible ocean of the world.
This world which is a terrible ocean, is crossed over by the Guru's instruction
And by dispelling the heart's doubts.
Let man take the five arrows,[1] put them on the bow of his brain and kill Death.
How shall the apostate obtain knowledge of the Word?
Without a knowledge of the Word man undergoeth transmigration.
Nanak, salvation dependeth upon the instruction of the Guru whom God by perfect good fortune hath caused us to meet.
The Fearless One, the true Guru is our protector.
The great God is obtained by devotion.
For him who obtaineth the Bright One under the Guru's instruction, the unbeaten strain of joy resoundeth.
The Fearless One is He on whose forehead no destiny is recorded.
He is invisible, but we behold Him through His omnipotence.
He transcendeth the world; He is unborn and self-existent, O Nanak, and is obtained by the Guru's instruction.
Only the True Guru knoweth the state of man's heart.
He is fearless who recognizeth the Guru's instructions,
Beholdeth God within him, knoweth that He pervadeth creation, and alloweth not his mind to wander elsewhere.
He in whose heart God dwelleth is fearless,
And day and night delighted with the bright Name.
Nanak, God's praises are obtained from the society of the saints, and man is thus easily blended with Him.
He who knoweth that God is with him whether at home or abroad,
Who remaineth attached to the world and bringeth home his wandering mind,
Shall obtain, O Nanak, the ambrosial essence of the True One who dwelleth in the three worlds, and who was before all things.
[1. The five virtues.]
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MARU KI WAR I
Man shall certainly be responsible for his acts:--
Creation was by God's order; in His court the truth is accepted.
The Lord will call for man's account; O man, stray not on beholding the world.
Nanak, God will keep an account of the love and affection of him
Who watcheth over his heart, and is a pure-minded darwesh.
The condition of really holy men:--
For those who dwell apart and live on the bread of alms God is everywhere:
The diamonds of their hearts are pierced with God's diamond, O Nanak, and their necks are gorgeous with jewels.
True devotion and repetition of the Name secure salvation:--
Recognize God's primal love,[1] and worship the great God.
Shall Death then, O Nanak, strike thee on the head? Nay; the Name shall cause thee to meet God.
Many sects appeal to the Veds, but it is heartfelt devotion which secures salvation:--
The drum of the Veds loudly resoundeth for many a faction.
Remember God's name, Nanak; there is none but Him.
Where man is, proud there art Thou not; where Thou art, there no pride is.
O men of divine knowledge, understand this riddle--the story of the Ineffable One is in the heart,
But without the Guru the Real Thing cannot be found it is concealed though it dwelleth in every heart,
[1. Explained to be the love of God which disposes Him to protect the child in the womb.]
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